17. Exclamatives, imperatives, optatives
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Xavier Villalba
Abstract
We provide a summary of the main syntactic features of exclamative, imperative, and optative sentential modality across Romance. It is shown that in order to isolate a coherent set of defining grammatical properties for each category, it is important to distinguish between form and function. Exclamatives involve a high range of syntactic variation, particularly in the list of exclamative words, subject-verb inversion, and the presence of a complementizer and/or expletive negation. In contrast, they are homogenous in having speaker orientation and expressing a high degree of a property. Imperatives, which typically involve orders and requests, are quite similar across Romance in restricting the presence of the subject to contrastive uses and in preferring enclisis, but they differ substantially in negated orders, where Romance languages and dialects resort to different forms from the verbal paradigm. Finally, optatives, which express desires, are typically found in the subjunctive and either they are introduced by a complementizer or they involve verb movement to a left peripheral position, yielding subject-verb inversion and enclisis.
Abstract
We provide a summary of the main syntactic features of exclamative, imperative, and optative sentential modality across Romance. It is shown that in order to isolate a coherent set of defining grammatical properties for each category, it is important to distinguish between form and function. Exclamatives involve a high range of syntactic variation, particularly in the list of exclamative words, subject-verb inversion, and the presence of a complementizer and/or expletive negation. In contrast, they are homogenous in having speaker orientation and expressing a high degree of a property. Imperatives, which typically involve orders and requests, are quite similar across Romance in restricting the presence of the subject to contrastive uses and in preferring enclisis, but they differ substantially in negated orders, where Romance languages and dialects resort to different forms from the verbal paradigm. Finally, optatives, which express desires, are typically found in the subjunctive and either they are introduced by a complementizer or they involve verb movement to a left peripheral position, yielding subject-verb inversion and enclisis.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Manuals of Romance Linguistics V
- Table of Contents VII
- Abbreviations XI
- 1. Introduction 1
-
The verbal domain
- 2. Subjects 27
- 3. Objects 89
- 4. Argument structure and argument structure alternations 154
- 5. Clitic pronouns 183
- 6. Voice and voice alternations 230
- 7. Auxiliaries 272
- 8. Causative and perception verbs 299
- 9. Copular and existential constructions 332
-
The clausal and sentential domains
- 10. Infinitival clauses 369
- 11. Tense, aspect, mood 397
- 12. Negation and polarity 449
- 13. Dislocations and framings 472
- 14. Focus Fronting 502
- 15. Cleft constructions 536
- 16. Interrogatives 569
- 17. Exclamatives, imperatives, optatives 603
- 18. Coordination and correlatives 647
-
The nominal domain
- 19. Gender and number 691
- 20. Determination and quantification 727
- 21. Adjectival and genitival modification 771
- 22. Relative clauses 804
-
Typological aspects
- 23. Syntheticity and Analyticity 839
- 24. Basic constituent orders 887
- List of Contributors 933
- Index 941
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Manuals of Romance Linguistics V
- Table of Contents VII
- Abbreviations XI
- 1. Introduction 1
-
The verbal domain
- 2. Subjects 27
- 3. Objects 89
- 4. Argument structure and argument structure alternations 154
- 5. Clitic pronouns 183
- 6. Voice and voice alternations 230
- 7. Auxiliaries 272
- 8. Causative and perception verbs 299
- 9. Copular and existential constructions 332
-
The clausal and sentential domains
- 10. Infinitival clauses 369
- 11. Tense, aspect, mood 397
- 12. Negation and polarity 449
- 13. Dislocations and framings 472
- 14. Focus Fronting 502
- 15. Cleft constructions 536
- 16. Interrogatives 569
- 17. Exclamatives, imperatives, optatives 603
- 18. Coordination and correlatives 647
-
The nominal domain
- 19. Gender and number 691
- 20. Determination and quantification 727
- 21. Adjectival and genitival modification 771
- 22. Relative clauses 804
-
Typological aspects
- 23. Syntheticity and Analyticity 839
- 24. Basic constituent orders 887
- List of Contributors 933
- Index 941
