Publications

Publication details [#2791]

Downes, William. 1977. The imperative and pragmatics. Journal of Linguistics 13 (1) : 77–97.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject

Annotation

Account of the syntax, semantics and pragmatics of imperative constructions in English, with special attention for their illocutionary act potential. Three possible linguistic analyses of the imperative are examined: the surface structure analysis, the deep structure analysis and the performative analysis. It is argued that the surface structure analysis is to be preferred.