Mnemosyne · 2010 · 90 citations · 0 references
Language StudiesLinguisticsAncient GreekDiscourse AnalysisPragmaticsAncient Greek SyntaxGrammarPerformative UtterancesSpeech Acts
The imperatival infinitive denotes an action appropriate to a social procedure, evoked by discourse or context, and unlike a direct imperative it does not involve a direct appeal to the hearer or reference to the immediate speech event. The paper argues that the use of the imperatival infinitive can be explained by the notion of procedure. The study finds that the imperatival infinitive functions as a more indirect directive, lacking finiteness and grounding, so its force is pragmatically tied to the procedure rather than the immediate speech event.
Abstract In this paper, it is argued that the use of the imperatival infinitive (or, infinitivus pro imperativo) can be explained by means of the notion of procedure. The imperatival infinitive refers to the appropriate action that is to be carried out as part of a practical or conventional social procedure (script, frame) which is evoked in the discourse or by the extra-linguistic situation of the interlocutors. Unlike the imperative proper, the imperatival infinitive does not involve a direct appeal of the speaker to the hearer. As its directive force depends on the appropriateness of the action within a particular procedure, the imperatival infinitive can be seen as a more indirect type of directive expression.The functional differences between the imperative and the imperatival infinitive can be clarified by reference to the notions of finiteness and grounding. As imperatival infinitives are not finite, they do not invoke the ground (i.e. the speech event, its participants, and its immediate circumstances), but merely designate a type of action which is not epistemically located with respect to time or reality. Unlike the imperative, therefore, the directive force of the imperatival infinitive is not anchored in the ground, but, instead, it is pragmatically implicated by the procedure at hand.