The function of non-canonical imperatives in the languages of Europe

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4.1 The forms of the first person plural imperative One formal feature found in certain languages, Finnish and French for instance, is the representation of this form by the passive present indicative. In Finnish, the passive is used in both the imperative and the indicative in lieu of the first person plural form, in the latter in all tenses. This relation is exemplified below in Table 4.1, demonstrating the verb puhua, “to speak, to talk” together with rakkaus, “love” (which, as always when it is talked about is in the elative case) in the situations where this colloquial construction is used. Table 4.1 The passive as an alternative form in Finnish Imperative Present indicative Past indicative Perfect indicative Pluperfect indicative Written Puhukaamme rakkaudesta! Puhukaamme rakkaudesta talk/1PL/IMP love/ELA ”let us talk about love” Puhumme rakkaudesta. Puhumme rakkaudesta talk/1PL love/ELA “we talk about love” Puhuimme rakkaudesta. Puhuimme rakkaudesta talk/PAST/1PL love/ELA “we talked about love” Olemme puhuneet rakkaudesta. Olemme puhuneet rakkaudesta be/1PL talk/PRC/PL love/ELA “we have talked about love” Olimme puhuneet rakkaudesta. Olimme puhuneet be/PAST/1PL talk/PRC/PL rakkaudesta love/ELA “we had talked about love” Colloquial Puhutaan rakkaudesta! Puhutaan rakkaudesta talk/PASS love/ELA “love is talked about” Puhumme rakkaudesta. Puhutaan rakkaudesta talk/PASS love/ELA “love is talked about” Puhuttiin rakkaudesta. Puhuttiin rakkaudesta talk/PAST/PASS love/ELA “love was talked about” Ollaan puhunut rakkaudesta. Ollaan puhunut rakkaudesta be/PASS talk/PRC/SG love/ELA “love has been talked about” Oltiin puhunut rakkaudesta. Oltiin puhunut be/PAST/PASS talk/PRC/SG rakkaudesta love/ELA “love had been talked about” In French, the impersonal pronoun on is sometimes preferable to the first person plural when voicing suggestions, and provides at other times at least an alternative to this non-canonical 16
imperative. French is further dissimilar from other Romance languages in that this imperative form is based off the indicative, as opposed to the subjunctive in Spanish, Italian (albeit this is arguable, since the first person plural forms here are the same in the indicative and subjunctive) or Portuguese. French: Allons-y! Allons-y go/1PL/IMP-there “Let’s go there!” On y va! On y va IMPRS there go/3SG/IND “Let’s go there!” (lit. “one there goes!” and possibly also “thither [to that aforementioned place] it is gone”) The reason behind the usage of the passive instead of these other forms is to distance the speaker and those he includes in “we” in order to make the suggestion less direct or to remind the party involved that it is in line with the norm, and as such good conduct. This is common in the negative. On (ne) le fait pas ! On (ne) le fait pas IMPRS NEG it do/3SG NEG “One does not do it!/Let’s not do it!” The usage of the passive is thus language-specific rather than a trait common to certain language groups. The French example can be contrasted with how this imperative is formed in Spanish, another Romance language, here with the verb cantar, “to sing” in the subjunctive mood: 17
Page 1 and 2: UPPSALA UNIVERSITY Bachelor’s The
Page 3 and 4: Abbreviations 1INF First infinite I
Page 5 and 6: 1. Background and purpose The imper
Page 7 and 8: mind passing me the salt”, or a s
Page 9 and 10: There is a depth in using language
Page 11 and 12: optative paradigm (called the jussi
Page 13 and 14: Now, what I found were tendencies i
Page 15 and 16: Irish: Labhraím leis anois. Labhra
Page 17 and 18: Table 3.2: the differences between
Page 19: So how do non-canonical imperatives
Page 23 and 24: 4.2 The hortative functionality of
Page 25 and 26: Irish: Ithim bia! Ithim bia eat/1SG
Page 27 and 28: Table 5.2 Sentence types in Irish D
Page 29 and 30: This function arguably is more impe
Page 31 and 32: Table 5.4: Forms of the imperative
Page 33 and 34: Finnish: (Hän) kysyköön kysymyks
Page 35 and 36: and requests for permission are not
Page 37 and 38: Russian (courtesy of Hansen in Roth
Page 39 and 40: Resignation and admission of the sp
Page 41 and 42: References Abraham, Werner and Leis

The function of non-canonical imperatives in the languages of Europe

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