'Irrealis' is pronounced 'ear-ray-ahl-iss', with stress on the next-to-last syllable. It's a standard term in theoretical linguistics for verb forms and other grammatical markers for hypothetical, non-actual states of affairs. In a lot of languages, this is one meaning of subjunctive verb forms. In English, constructions with 'would have' seem to be slowly taking over the territory of the subjunctive--so we hear 'if he would have called me last night' in place of 'if he had called me last night'. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-259 • E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/