Jespersen and Comparative Syntax: The Case of Negated and Embedded Imperatives

Jespersen and Comparative Syntax: The Case of Negated and Embedded Imperatives

In this paper I examine the way Jespersen, in his various works, approaches the topic of the imperative. No doubt due to its quite tightly circumscribed limits, this category is usually given very short shrift in grammatical descriptions and analyses, yet closer investigation of English and a few selected other languages shows that it exhibits various syntactic properties that defy easy explanation Focussing firstly on negated imperatives (winch, for no obvious reason, are impossible in many languages) and secondly on embedded imperatives (which, counter to reasonable expectations and in spite of frequent assertions to the contrary, are grammatical in many languages), I will show that Jespersen's account of the imperative is a useful starting point for a comparative investigation of these two phenomena; moreover, his general theory of language provides several clues to the proper analysis of the results. The paper thus demonstrates (1) that the syntax and semantics of the imperative are more intricate and interesting than is commonly realised, and (2) that, far from having been superseded by modem work, Jespersen's work remains a valuable source of ideas and insights, both at the specific level of individual constructions and at the general level of understanding basic features of language.