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

Russian (courtesy of Hansen in Rothstein and Thieroff (2010:325-41)):
дава
(daváj spoju)!
give/2SG/IMP
“Let me sing!”
sing/1SG
In Polish, inflected imperatives exist only in the first person plural apart from the second
person forms (singular and plural), with the third person imperatives, polite (also called
distant by Hansen in Rothstein and Thieroff (2010:342-57)) second person forms and the first
person singular using the particle niech together with the present tense of the imperfective
verb in question. A consensus regarding these non-canonical forms as being actual
imperatives has not yet completely been established, and so I will not overextend myself to
elaborate too much on this, but suffice to say that if they conform to the boundaries inherent
to imperatives (not being able to be in any other tense or aspect, for instance), then they are,
despite their analytic form, imperatives. These non-canonical imperatives can express orders,
desires (may he live a hundred years), permissions (have a seat, if you like), advice (sell your
car, then you’ll have the money you need) and requests (let me go the cinema).
6. Summary and conclusion
What can thus be said about non-canonical imperatives, based on what we’ve seen What
functions are generally observed in the languages of Europe, and how are these functions
conveyed formally Also, there exists no consensus on what these non-second person forms
are to be called, so if they aren’t imperatives in the sense of the word, then what are they
The first person plural, inclusive imperative, also called the hortative (or jussive, in
Palmer’s definition) exists in most languages, or at least in most sub-branches of the Indo-
European language family (as well as the Finno-Ugric languages), and is possibly the most
common non-canonical imperative (as per Aikhenvald’s hierarchy). There are two major
functions of this form, obviously related to each other since as I’ve argued that the only
differentiating factor is often super-segmental (i.e. pertaining to tone of voice, intonation
contour and/or body language) as these are non-vocal ways of projecting your attitude
towards the situation at hand, attitude which in turn tells the listeners how to interpret the
statement.
33