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

and requests for permission are not as viable in this form. This Irish aptly demonstrates, as its
impersonal imperative is created from the optative-like present subjunctive as opposed to the
indirect commission of the past subjunctive, from which the language gets the third person
forms (along with the first person plural) of the imperative.
5.3 Polite and indirect commands
If we put all construal of optativity aside, the role of the third person imperative in Irish would
be to express an indirect command, but there is another, related, function that in Europe is, I
daresay, more common, namely that of the moderated or polite command.
Romance languages like Spanish and Italian use the subjunctive mood to present a
command or request as less forceful or direct than one made through the imperative. While
this could rightfully be called an indirect command, as the order posed through an indirect
speech act rather than a direct one, it is not put forth by an imperative by proxy, and so it is
prudent to keep these two terms separate for now.
In Spanish and Italian, the third person imperative as a polite command is preferable to
the second person form when addressing a person whom the speaker considers being superior
in address, and is a good default to use with people with whom your familiarity is uncertain.
The form used in this case is that of the present subjunctive, which in Italian and Portuguese
(although not in Spanish) is also used for the first person plural.
Portuguese:
Fale/falem comigo!
Fale / falem comigo
speak/3SG/SBJV speak/SBJV/3PL with/me
“Talk to me [please]!”
Italian (Squartini in Rothstein and Thieroff (2010:239)):
lo legga/leggano qui!
lo legga / leggano qui
it read/SBJV/3SG read/SBJV/3PL here
“Read it here (please)!”
This function of the third person imperative is also found in Hungarian, which sets it apart
from how other Finno-Ugric languages like Finnish and Estonian, which treats the third
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