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A different B-construction: the logical B-construction
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There is a construction in Modern Frisian which has the form of the nineteenth-century B-construction but not its distribution or its semantics. The semantics of this construction expresses some kind of logical consequence. This type of construction cannot be replaced with an A-construction while keeping the semantics constant.

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The following is an example of the logical B-construction from Modern Frisian:

1
As ik jild hân hie, soe ik op reis gien wêze
if I money had had should I on a trip gone be
If I had had the money, I would have gone on a trip

Unlike the nineteenth-century B-construction, it cannot be replaced with an A-construction, as borne out by the ungrammaticality of (2):

2
*As ik jild hân hie, hie ik op reis gean sillen
if I money had had had I on a trip go shall.PfP
If I had had the money, I would have gone on a trip

The same type of example can also be found with other modals when they express a logical consequence, which comes close to an evidential consequence, as in (3):

3
Hy koe it jild ferjamme wol ferlern ha
he could the money damned DcP lost have
Damn, it seems that he has lost the money

Again, this logical B-construction cannot be replaced with an A-construction:

4
*Hy hie it jild ferjamme wol ferlieze kinnen
he could the money damned DcP lose can.PfP
Damn, it seems that he has lost the money

The sentence above is grammatical under a factive interpretation, as rendered by the following English translation: Damn, you could have lost the money (but it did not happen).

It must also be added that the logical interpretation can be rendered by a two-verb construction, when it occurs in the main clause that is the consequence clause to a conditional clause, as shown in (5):

5
a. As ik jild hân hie, soe ik op reis gien wêze
if I money had had should I on a trip gone be
If I had had the money, I would have gone on a trip
b. As ik jild hân hie, hie ik op reis gien
if I money had had had I on a trip gone
If I had had the money, I would have gone on a trip

The two sentences in (5) seem to have the same interpretation. This equivalence only holds for the verb sille shall, not for other modals. The reason seems to be that sille shall functions purely as a verb of the irrealis, and this function can be taken over here by the past tense of hawwe have. Other modals make a meaning contribution of their own which cannot be captured by the past tense of hawwe have.

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