On the co-construction of counterfactual reasoning

Using Japanese data collected following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, I would like to suggest that counterfactual thinking is an essential necessity for human existence. Specifically, a novel account of co-construction presented here provides an important insight into the nature of counterfactual reasoning by ordinary people in everyday life. It will be demonstrated that Japanese speakers spontaneously co-construct the line of reasoning,'P [DESIRABLE], because if not P, then not Q [UNDESIRABLE]', where P and Q stand for FACT (e.g., P = 'the earthquake occurred at 4:30 a.m.' and Q = 'the casualties were very small'). These speakers were total strangers until they met at the data collection site to talk about their own earthquake experiences. By jointly and collaboratively producing elements of counterfactual reasoning, the pairs of speakers are congratulating themselves by conveying the message 'We are lucky; it could've been so much worse'. There is a striking similarity between Fauconnier's (1985) made up examples in English and the Japanese authentic discourse data, which leads us now toward a universal hypothesis that this line of reasoning is not only a natural one for every human being, it also serves to demonstrate and express sympathy and mutual sharing.