Zur Semantik kausaler Satzverbindungen: Integration, Fokussierung, Definitheit und modale Umgebung

This paper deals with modal and non-modal readings of causal sentence relations. According to Sweetser (1990), causal relations can be interpreted on three levels of complexity: as dispositional relations between states of affairs; as epistemic relations between propositions; or as deontic-illocutionary relations between (speech) acts. Dispositional relations are non-modal, whereas the latter two are modal relations. Non-modal relations relate states of affairs in the domain of time. Modal relations relate propositions in the domain of truth or (speech) acts in the domain of desirability. Default readings of causal sentence relations are non-modal. Modal readings are favoured under particular syntactic-semantic conditions: low degrees of syntactic integration, separate intonational phrasing of the participating clauses, definiteness of the cause, and modally marked environments.