Re: Conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, subordinators

>Question; In a conditional statement, for instance "if X then Y", aren't
>both the condition (X) and the consequence (Y) subordinate or subjoined
>clauses?  If not, which is the main clause?  If so, what is the main
>clause -- what are they subordinate to?
>
>-----
>
>eldin
I suppose you could choose either as a main clause (probably with a
potential marker) and have the other as a subordinate. The "both are
subclauses of a higher clause" interpretation doesn't really make sense. If
they need to be "on the same level", why not just have both be main clauses?

The actual interpretation will anyway depend on the language. I don't think
"main clause" and "subclause" are logical universals. Well, I guess one
could say that the B in expressions like "A or (not A and B)" is a
"subclause", but this is equivalent with "A nand B" where both are primitive
("main").

John Vertical