A syntactic analysis of interpretive restrictions on imperative, promissive, and exhortative subjects

ISSN： 0167-806X

Source： Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, Vol.30, Iss.4, 2012-11, pp. : 1231-1274

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Abstract

This paper investigates the interpretive restrictions on the subjects of imperative, promissive, and exhortative sentences-what we call the “jussive clause types. It argues that the data cannot be explained by a theory that appeals only to semantic and pragmatic factors, and that an account crucially involving syntax is required. We propose that jussive clauses contain a functional head that bears a person feature. This head is an operator that, when in a sufficiently local configuration, binds the subject and enters an agreement relation with it. The restrictions in person features exhibited by the subjects are a consequence of this agreement relation. Moreover, we show that the syntactic structures produced by our analysis are compatible with a compositional semantics that yields the correct interpretation for imperatives and other jussives.