Abstract

In this paper we present the results of an analysis of the argumentative use of conditional expressions by three communities of immigrant speakers in Chile, namely Colombians, Peruvians, and Venezuelans. They responded to a social dilemma, and their responses were analysed using four specific methods: 1) description of the bi-conditionality found, 2) characterisation of the relationship between the use of argumentative connectors and the type of conditional construction, 3) analysis of the type of argumentative environment in which the conditional construction appeared, and 4) characterisation of the prominent biconditional context in terms of emphasis on the consequent and/or antecedent. The main result of our four-part analysis is that there is a homogeneous trend across speaker communities in terms of a convergence towards conditional perfection. In other words, differences in nationality of origin, gender or age do not affect the type of conditional expression used, the paradigmatic orientation of use being a construction of conditional perfection.