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

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different in function; the optative expresses a wish for something to come about, while the imperative addresses a resignation or appeal for permission. Table 5.1 Sentence types in Finnish Declarative Interrogative Imperative Optative Positive Ajattelitte sitä. Ajattelitte sitä think/PAST/2PL it/PART ”You thought about it” Ajattelitteko sitä Ajattelitteko sitä think/PAST/2PL/Q it/PART “Did you think about it” Ajatelkaa sitä! Ajatelkaa sitä think/IMP/2SG it/PART ”Think about it!” Ajatelkootte sitä! Ajatelkootte sitä think/OPT/2PL it/PART ”May you think about it!” Negative Ette ajatellut sitä. Ette ajatellut sitä NEG/2PL think/PRC it/PART ”You did not think about it” Ettekö ajattelut sitä Ettekö ajattelut sitä NEG/2PL/Q think/PRC it/PART ”Didn’t you think about it” Älkää ajatelko sitä! Älkää ajatelko sitä NEG/IMP/2SG think/OPT/NEG it/PART ”Don’t think about it!” Älköötte ajatelko sitä! Älköötte ajatelko sitä NEG/OPT/2PL think/OPT/NEG it/PART ”May you not think about it!” Another language in which this variance of negations is found is Irish, where the difference between negations is even greater than in Finnish. The following table might shed some light on this, where the verb glan “to clean” is used. All the verbs are in the present tense. 22
Table 5.2 Sentence types in Irish Declarative Interrogative Imperative Optative Positive Glanann sí. Glanann sí clean/PRES/IND she “She cleans” An nglannan sí An nglanann sí Q clean/PRES/IND she “Does she clean” Glanadh sí! Glanadh sí clean/3SG/IMP she “Let her clean!” Go glana sí! Go glana sí GO clean/3SG/PRES/SBJV she “May she clean!” Negative Ni glannan sí. Ni ghlannan sí NEG clean/PRES/IND she “She doesn’t clean” Nach nglannan sí Nach nglanann sí Q/NEG clean/PRES/IND she “Doesn’t she clean” Ná glanadh sí! Ná glanadh sí NEG/IMP clean/3SG/IMP she “Don’t let her clean!” Nár glana sí! Nár glana sí NEG/SBJV clean/3SG/PRES/SBJV she “May she not clean!” The negation pattern from one speech act to another is as follows: the declarative uses the independent negative article ni in all tenses as well as in the conditional, the interrogative the dependent negative article nach (which, as an aside, is also used to negate subordinating conjunctions), again in all tenses, while the imperative uses the ná negation and the optative the negation nár. Additionally, it is noteworthy that the past subjunctive, the basis for the imperative, does not share any negations with the present subjunctive, the basis for the optative, despite the superficial difference being only that of temporal distinction. So the difference between Finnish and Irish is that while the optative in Irish is subsumed under the present subjunctive, which fills other functions in addition to expressing optativity, it is more independent (and functionally more specialized) in Finnish. Not all languages have an overlap between the optative and the imperative. One language in which this overlap does not occur is Albanian, which, while only presenting the second person forms in the imperative, possesses a full paradigm for optatives in both the present and perfect: 23
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 and 20: So how do non-canonical imperatives
Page 21 and 22: imperative. French is further dissi
Page 23 and 24: 4.2 The hortative functionality of
Page 25: Irish: Ithim bia! Ithim bia eat/1SG
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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