The conceptual structure of irreality: a focus on non-exclusion-of-factuality as a conceptual and a linguistic category

Irreality and modality often converge in the literature. Nevertheless, there are grounds to keep the two notions separate. The effort of defining irreality in non-modal terms leads to redefine irreality as a supercategory encompassing three close conceptual domains concerned with the non-actualization of a SoA: counterfactuality, non-exclusion of factuality and non-referentiality. This article focuses on the linguistic relevance of non-exclusion of factuality in Italian. It is shown that non-exclusion of factuality is to be regarded as a defining component of the conceptual structure of a number of irrealis situations (hypothetical, concessive conditionals, alternative relations) and that it is semanticized (through intentional mechanisms of explicit coding, conventional implicature or invited inference) in the way Italian encodes other typically irrealis situations (counterfactual conditionals, optatives, recommendations). The categoriality of non-exclusion-of-factuality in Italian is discussed. Italian has an abstract complex constructional marker dedicated to the expression of non-exclusion of factuality: the construction magari + list, which is instantiated by a number of more specific constructions conveying specific instances of non-exclusion of factuality meaning (equipotential non-exclusion of factuality constructions, scalar non-exclusion of factuality constructions, scalar concessive conditional constructions, recommendation constructions, and, perhaps, optative constructions). The grammatical nature of this constructional marker is not to be excluded, even though, given the state of knowledge, it cannot be explicitly argued.

► Irreality is a supercategory.
► It encompasses counterfactuality, non-exclusion of factuality, non-referentiality.
► We examine non-exclusion of factuality in Italian.
► Italian has a construction dedicated to non-exclusion of factuality.
► The grammatical nature of this construction is not to be excluded.