Analyzing anakastic conditionals and sufficiency modals

This paper consists of two parts. The first part argues that existing accounts of anankastic conditionals make the wrong predictions in scenarios with multiple non-conflicting goals. In order to avoid the problem, I propose that anankastic conditionals are not interpreted relative to every goal, as previous accounts have it, but relative to those goals that are contextually salient. The second part of this paper is devoted to sufficiency modals, that are formed by combining anankastic conditionals with only. I claim that the analysis of von Fintel & Iatridou (2005a) isn’t adequate, because it fails to predict that sufficiency modals are transitive. I present an alternative analysis that treats only as a modal operator.