On the Semantics of Imperatives in Persian

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Ph.D graduate from Razi University of Kermamshah

Abstract

The present paper aims to analyze the imperatives in Persian form a formal semantics viewpoint. Basically, as well as the ‘directive’ meaning as their default reading, the imperatives express a variety of other illocutionary forces. Due to this effect, therefore, this paper attempts to explain the multiplicity of interpretations of this clause type in Persian in a systematic way. To this end, following Kratzer’s (1977, 1979, 1981, 1986, 1991, 2012) Possible-Worlds Semantics approach to modality and modelling Schwager’s (2005, 2006) comparison of imperatives on the basis of the modals, it is shown in this paper that the imperative clause in Persian has the ‘Command’ reading underlyingly, but it may express other illocutionary forces like ‘Prohibition’, ‘Request’, etc. under the influence of situational contexts where it is used. Indeed, the imperative clause has a ‘modal operator’ which resembles the modal verb ‘must’. This operator expresses ‘necessity’ as the ‘modal force’ regarding the ‘Common Ground’ between the speaker and the addressee as the ‘modal base’ and is limited by some ‘preference-related’ constraints as the ‘ordering source’. Such an approach means that accounting for the different interpretations of the imperatives implies a conflation of semantics with pragmatics at some level of analysis.
 

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

احمدی گیوی، حسن و حسن انوری (1374). دستور زبان فارسی 1. ویرایش ۲. تهران: فاطمی.
ارژنگ، غلامرضا (1378). دستور زبان فارسی امروز. تهران: قطره.
افراشی، آزیتا (1388). ساخت زبان فارسی. ویرایش ۲. تهران: سمت.
رحیمیان، جلال و محمد عموزاده مهدیرجی (1392). افعال وجهی در زبان فارسی و بیان وجهیت. پژوهش‌های زبانی، 4 (1)، 21-40.
شریعت، محمدجواد (1370). دستور زبان فارسی. تهران: اساطیر.
عموزاده مهدیرجی، محمد و حدائق رضایی (1389). ابعاد معناشناختی «باید» در زبان فارسی. پژوهش‌های زبانی، 1 (1)، 57-78.
غلامعلی‌زاده، خسرو (1374). ساخت زبان فارسی، تهران: احیاء کتاب.
فرشیدورد، خسرو (1388). دستور مفصل امروز. تهران: سخن.
لازار، ژیلبر (1393). دستور زبان فارسی معاصر. مترجم: مهستی بحرینی. تهران: هرمس.
مشکوۃ‌الدینی، مهدی (1386). دستور زبان فارسی بر پایة نظریة گشتاری. ویرایش دوم. مشهد: دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد.
نقی‌زاده، محمود، منوچهر توانگر و محمد عموزاده مهدیرجی (1390). بررسی مفهوم ذهنیت در افعال وجهی در زبان فارسی. پژوهش‌های زبان‌شناسی، 3 (1)، 1-20.
همایون‌فر، مژگان (1392). بررسی روند دستوری‌شدگی فعل‌های وجهی زبان فارسی بر اساس پارامترهای لمان. ویژه‌نامة فرهنگستان، (9)، 50-73.
Bybee, J. L., R. Perkins, & W. Pagliuca (1994). The Evolution of Grammar. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Cheng, L. (1991). On the Typology of Wh-Questions. Ph.D. Thesis. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Chomsky, N. (1995). The Minimalist Program. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Hacquard, V. (2011). Modality. In: K. Von Heusinger, C. Mainborn & P. Portner (Eds.), Semantics: An International Handbook of Natural Language Meaning, Vol. 2 (pp. 1484-1514). Berlin/Boston: Mouton de Gruyter.
Hamblin, C. L. (1987). Imperatives. New York: Blackwell.
Han, C. H. (1998). The Structure and Interpretation of Imperatives: Mood and Force in Universal Grammar. Ph.D. Thesis. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
Iatridou, S. (2008). De Modo Imperative. Lecture Notes for a Course on the Syntax and Semantics of Imperatives at Ealing6, ENS, Paris. September 16-19, 2008. Retrieved: November 10, 2016. URL: http://lingphil.mit.edu/papers/iatridou/de_modo_ imperativo. df
Jackendoff, R. S. (1972). Semantic Interpretation in Generative Grammar. Cambridge/ Mass: MITPress.
Kamp, H. (1978). Semantics versus Pragmatics. In: F. Guenthner & S. J. Schmidt (Eds.), Formal Semantics and Pragmatics for Natural Languages, (pp. 255-287). Dordrecht: Reidel.
Kaufmann, M. [previously ‘Schwager’] (2012). Interpreting Imperatives. Berlin: Springer.
Kaufmann, S. & M. Schwager (2011). A Unified Analysis of Conditional Imperatives. In: E. Cormany, S. Ito, & D. Lutz (Eds.), Proceedings of the Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference (SALT) 19,(pp. 239-256). New York: CLC.
Kratzer, A. (1977). What “Must” and “Can” Must and Can Mean. Linguistics and Philosophy, 1, 337-355.
--------------- (1979). Conditional Necessity and Possibility. In: R. B¨auerle, U. Egli, & A. von Stechow (Eds.), Semantics from Different Points of View, (pp. 117-147). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
--------------- (1981). The Notional Category of Modality. In: H-J, Eikmeyer and H. Rieser (Eds.), Words, Worlds, and Contexts: New Approaches in Word Semantics, (pp. 38-74). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
--------------- (1986). Conditionals. In: A. M. Farley, P. Farley, & K. E. McCullough (Eds.), Papers from the Parasession on Pragmatics and Grammatical Theory,(pp. 1-15). Chicago Linguistics Society.
--------------- (1991). Modality. In: A. Von Stechow & D. Wunderlich, (Eds.), Semantics: An International Handbook of Contemporary Research, (pp. 639-650). Berlin/New York: de Gruyter.
--------------- (2012). Modals and Conditionals: New and Revised Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mahootian, S. (1997). Persian Descriptive Grammars. London/New York: Routledge.
Palmer, F. R. (2001). Mood and Modality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Perlmutter, D. M. (1971). Deep and Surface Structure Constraints in Syntax. New York: Holt, Rinehart& Winston.
Rivero, M. L. & A. Terzi (1995). Imperatives, V-Movement and Logical Mood. Journal of Linguistics, 31 (2), 301-322.
Rizzi, L. (1990). Speculations on Verb Second. In: J. Mascaró & M. Nespor (Eds.), Grammar in Progress: GLOW Essays for Henk van Riemsdijk,(pp. 137-152). Dordrecht: Foris.
------------- (1996). Residual Verb Second and the Wh-Criterion. In: A. Belletti & L. Rizzi (Eds.), Parameters and Functional Heads: Essays in Comparative Syntax, (pp. 63-90). New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ross, J. R. (1969) Auxiliaries as Main Verbs. In: W. Todd (Ed.), Studies in Philosophical Linguistics, Series 1. Evanston.
Sadock, J. M. & A. M. Zwicky (1985). Speech Act Distinctions in Syntax. In: T. Shopen (Eds.), Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Vol. I, (pp. 155-196). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schulz, K. (2003). You May Read It Now or Later: A Case Study on the Paradox of Free Choice Permission. M. A. Thesis. Netherlands: University of Amsterdam.
Schwager, J. M. (2005). Interpreting Imperatives. Ph.D. Thesis. Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Universität zu Frankfurt am Main.
-------------------- (2006). Conditionalized Imperatives. In: M. Gibson & J. Howell (Eds.), SALT XVI, (pp. 241-258). Ithaca/NY: Cornell University.
-------------------- (2008). Optimizing the Future: Imperatives between Form and Function. 20th European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI), Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Germany, 4-15 August 2008. URL: www.illc. uva.nl/ESSLLI2008/Materials/Schwager/Schwager.pdf.
Stalnaker, R. (1974). Pragmatic Presupposition. In: M. Munitz & P. Unger (Eds.), Semantics and Philosophy, (pp. 197-213). New York: New York University Press.
----------------- (1978). Assertion. Syntax and Semantics, 9, 315-332.
Taleghani, A. (2008). The Interaction of Modality, Aspect and Negation in Persian. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.
Windfuhr, G. & J. R. Perry (2009). Persian and Tajik. In: G. Windfuhr (Ed.), the Iranian Languages, (pp. 416-454). London/New York: Routledge.
Research in Western Iranian Languages and Dialects
Volume 6, Issue 21
July 2018
Pages 99-126

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics