Syntactic Issues in the English Imperative
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ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITION: SYNTAX Volume 20 SYNTACTIC ISSUES IN THE ENGLISH IMPERATIVE SYNTACTIC ISSUES IN THE ENGLISH IMPERATIVE ERIC POTSDAM First published in 1998 by Garland Publishing, Inc. This edition first published in 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1998 Eric Potsdam All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 13: 978-1-138-21859-8 (set) ISBN 13: 978-0-8153-3129-2 (volume 20) (pbk) ISBN 13: 978-1-138-21381-4 (volume 20) (hbk) Publisher's Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace. SYNTACTIC ISSUES IN THE ENGLISH IMPERATIVE ERIC POTSDAM GARLAND PUBLISHING, I n c . A MEMBER OF THE TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP N ew Yo r k & Lon don / 1998 Copyright © 1998 Eric Potsdam All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Potsdam, Eric, 1964- Syntactic issues in the English imperative / Eric Potsdam, p. cm. — (Outstanding dissertations in linguistics) “Unrevised version of . .. [author's] 1996 University of California, Santa Cruz, Ph.D. dissertation. The only changes that have been made are corrections of typographical errors, minor rewording, updating of references, and the inclusion of an index*—Pref. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8153-3129-0 (alk. paper) 1. English language—Imperative. 2. English language— Syntax. I. Title. II. Series. PE1290.P68 1998 425—dc21 98-4330 Printed on acid-free, 250-year-life paper Manufactured in the United States of America Contents Preface..................................................................................................vii Acknowledgments.................................................................................ix Introduction The Domain of Investigation........................................................... 3 Overview.........................................................................................10 Notes...............................................................................................13 1 Clausal Syntax Introduction.................................................................................... 15 English Clause Structure................................................................ 15 Adverbs.......................................................................................... 20 Sentential Negation........................................................................41 VP Ellipsis......................................................................................44 Floating Quantifiers....................................................................... 88 Notes.............................................................................................. 92 2 Verb Raising Introduction.................................................................................. 101 Background.................................................................................. 104 Diagnostics....................................................................................106 Imperatives....................................................................................128 Subjunctive Clauses..................................................................... 137 Conclusion....................................................................................155 Notes.............................................................................................158 V vi Contents 3 Imperative Subjects Introduction.................................................................................. 163 Discourse Roles............................................................................ 165 Vocatives...................................................................................... 170 Imperative Subjects...................................................................... 185 The Null Imperative Subject........................................................218 Appendix: Patterns of Pronominal Agreement........................... 238 Notes............................................................................................249 4 Do(n’t) in Imperatives Introduction..................................................................................257 Two Hypotheses...........................................................................259 Evidence.......................................................................................261 Closing Arguments......................................................................286 Appendix: Imperative-Like Constructions with L e t................... 292 Notes............................................................................................298 5 The Phrase Structure of Imperatives Introduction..................................................................................305 The Hypotheses............................................................................307 Evidence Against the VP Hypothesis......................................... 311 The CP/FP Hypotheses................................................................322 Summary......................................................................................346 Notes............................................................................................349 6 Do Not in Imperatives Introduction..................................................................................355 The Problematic D ata..................................................................357 A Structural Resolution............................................................... 370 Imperative I°-to-C°.......................................................................386 Conclusions..................................................................................394 Notes............................................................................................396 References......................................................................................... 401 Index 419 Preface This work is an unrevised version of iny 1996 University of California, Santa Cruz Ph.D. dissertation. The only changes that have been made are corrections of typographical errors, minor rewording, updating of references, and the inclusion of an index. I would like to thank Rosemary Plapp and Kristi Long for help with proofreading and preparation of the manuscript. Iowa City, Iowa Winter 1998 vu “Minds are like parachutes, they only function when open.” Santa Cruz bumper sticker “Minds are like parachutes, using them only slows you down.” anonymous Acknowledgments Eventually you just have to stop thinking and write, so it all starts here where I would like to briefly express my thanks to those who have made my time in Santa Cruz so tremendous. I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to get my introduction to linguistics at UCSC and to learn from its uniformly superb faculty. I would like to thank them for their top-notch teaching examples, high standards of scholarship, honest encouragement, and the numerous opportunities they have provided me. In particular, the syntax community: Judith Aissen, Sandy Chung, Jorge Hankamer, and Jim McCloskey, have most directly and, it is hoped, positively influenced my thinking and teaching. This dissertation owes much to its committee. Judith Aissen could not have been a better advisor and committee chair. Everything that passed by her was scrutinized and critiqued with great care and thoroughness and interactions inevitably pushed things towards clarity, rigor, and better organization—all qualities that I value highly. At other points, her consistent, solid advice throughout my career as a graduate student was also invaluable. Jim McCloskey’s insights into linguistic theory, ability to see implications for the big picture, and encyclopedic IX X Acknowledgments knowledge of the literature are beyond admiration. He has helped me to push conclusions to a level of maximum generality and to see the significance, and insignificance, of many of the results arrived at in development of this work. I owe Donka Farkas for her guidance in understanding some of the semantic issues surrounding imperatives. I appreciated her patience as I grappled with the central but unfortunately largely neglected semantic questions and their relation to the syntax. In the ideal world, more of her advice would have been incorporated. More generally, I thank the entire Santa Cruz linguistic community for numerous discussions, constructive previewing of material, and countless grammaticality judgments in areas where I no longer seem to have any. I would also like to use this opportunity to recognize