Chapter 135Conditional, Temporal, and Concessive Constructions
Premises with yakun, evaluation with yak, regional ciki and cik uses, factual sequences, wishes, and hypothetical or realized concessions.
135.1 Conditions and the following clause
Conditional connectors differ in the situations they introduce and in the kinds of statement, question, or directive that follow. Satō's comparison uses Chitose material from Shirasawa Nabe and explicitly presents an exploratory account. The distinctions involve habituality, factual sequence, evaluation, and sentence type, with no simple one-to-one match to Japanese conditional forms Satō (2009: 50–55, §3 and notes 2–11).
Regional descriptions add further uses. The following sections retain the dialect and construction relevant to each comparison.
135.2 Yakun: taking a situation as a premise
Tamura describes yakun as setting up the circumstances in which an event happens or has happened. It can also begin a new utterance with the sense ‘in that case’ Tamura (1997: 51). Satō's Chitose examples have following clauses expressing conjecture, a command, intention, or a question Satō (2009: 52, examples 27–30).
Refsing's Shizunai rain example means ‘If/when the rain stops, we go home.’ The temporal reading does not assert that the rain has already stopped Refsing (1986: 257, example 453). The event's time and realization are interpreted from its context.
135.3 Yak and evaluation
Southern descriptions frequently connect yak and yakne with a desirable or undesirable result. Yak pirka can give advice or a directive, and yak wen warns against the preceding action Tamura (1997: 51–52)Nakagawa (2024: 349). The following predicate need not literally be ‘good’ or ‘bad’: the examples also include fear, pain, and survival Satō (2009: 51–52, examples 25–26 and note 6)Nakagawa (2024: 349, examples 649–651).
Refsing's Shizunai account emphasizes a necessary consequence, often a habitual relation, with warnings among its uses Refsing (1986: 257–258, example 454). These emphases differ from the southern descriptions and should not be collapsed into one universal semantic rule.
Tamura describes yak easir as identifying a necessary condition. She also gives yak pirka p for wishes, allowing both realizable hopes and wishes contrary to past fact Tamura (1997: 52). Satō separately notes that his examples involving past or counterfactual premises are too few for a full account Satō (2009: 54–55, notes 8 and 11).
135.4 Ciki and cik: directives, questions, and factual uses
Satō finds ciki especially with questions and commands in his Chitose material. An example tells the addressees to put clothes away if the clothes belong to them Satō (2009: 51, examples 19–20). Nakagawa also gives a Saru polar question with ya:
Satō's 2009 study reports no reliable polar-question example in its material. Nakagawa's later Saru example supplies a different dialect-and-source context Satō (2009: 55, note 11).
Nakagawa further records factual ciki in Horobetsu and Chitose. He lists cik for Shizunai, Samani, and Tokachi, including Tokachi cik pirka for advice Nakagawa (2024: 350–351, examples 658–661). Tamura's Tokachi examples include ordinary declarative conditions such as ‘If you go, you will understand’ Tamura (1997: 53).
135.5 Habitual conditions and factual sequences
Kor expresses recurring relations and also occurs in hypothetical questions and occasional factual sequences. Its simultaneous uses and regional counterparts are described in Chapter 134 (Kor: Simultaneity, Habits, and Conditions). Akusu and awa present developments following an actual event; their regional and genre preferences are compared in Chapter 133 (Hine, Akusu, and Narrative Progression).
135.6 Concession and contrary expectations
Yakka covers both hypothetical ‘even if’ and factual ‘although’ relations. With an already realized situation, it can overlap with adversative expressions. Nakagawa lists yakkay for Tokachi and Shiranuka and yakkayki in verse and in Kushiro prose Nakagawa (2024: 352, examples 667–669).
Korka and regional korkay connect a situation with something contrary to an expectation. Hikeka and its regional variants have closely overlapping uses Nakagawa (2024: 351–352, examples 662–666). For permission with yakka pirka, see Chapter 118 (Necessity, Advice, and Permission).