Imperative Constructions and Strategies in Persian

Abstract

The present study aims at investigating the imperative construction and its paradigm in Persian. To this aim, the canonical imperative construction in Persian will be explained first, and the non-canonical ones will be studied thereafter. The results show that Persian has two imperative constructions, namely minimal and maximal. The minimal construction is specified for the second-person singular subjects, and the maximal one is applied for non-second-person-singular subjects, which are formally heterogeneous with minimal construction, but which are in complementary distribution with it. In addition to these two constructions, it is argued that there are four analytical constructions that are mainly based on grammaticalized motion verbs and that are combined with the main verb to convey directive meanings as their secondary function in certain contexts and as an imperative strategy (not construction). The primary meaning and function of these constructions refer to hortative or optative meanings. These constructions, as opposed to non-canonical constructions, are not in complementary distribution with the second person singular subjects. Apart from these constructions, there are some other imperative strategies such as modal, declarative, and interrogative constructions.

Keywords

• imperative construction
• canonical imperative
• non-canonical imperative
• imperative strategy
• persian