Browsing by Author "De Villiers, Engela Helena"
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- ItemTowards a minimalist analysis of imperatives in Afrikaans : a first survey of the empirical and theoretical terrain(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) De Villiers, Engela Helena; Huddlestone, Kate; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The primary aim of this study is to provide a syntactic analysis of imperative constructions in Afrikaans, something which has not been done before. Imperatives are typically used to command the hearer to do something, or to give the hearer reason to complete some or other action. Imperative constructions are generally under-researched, and so this study contributes to the existing knowledge about imperatives, as well as to knowledge about the structure of Afrikaans. In order to address the aim of the study, a broad description of Afrikaans grammar is given, as well as the general features of imperative constructions in other West Germanic languages. In terms of the general characteristics of imperatives, the constituent order of imperatives often differs from that of other sentence types, imperatives usually use the base form of the verb, the subject of the imperative is usually left out, imperative verbs are required to refer to a controlled action, there is a restriction on tense, and most languages have dedicated prohibitive markers. The thesis provides a description of the features of Afrikaans imperatives, comparing them with imperatives in Dutch and English, as well as a syntactic account of the structure of imperatives in Afrikaans. This analysis is situated within Minimalism, and makes use of the Light Performative Hypothesis (LPH), as proposed by Alcázar & Saltarelli, (2014). According to the LPH, imperatives are characterised by a prescriptive light verb (v), and an [IMP] feature which is assigned to the sentence when the imperative verb moves to C. With regards to negative imperatives, the LPH claims that a [PROH] feature is assigned to a sentence when the Neg-element or the Neg-element combined with the prescriptive v, moves to C. In Afrikaans, as in English and Dutch, the imperative subject is rarely phonetically realised. It is, however, possible for a subject to be overt in Afrikaans imperatives, and the subject can occur before or after the verb. In Afrikaans imperatives, the bare stem of the verb is used, and the same form is used whether addressing one person or a group. Afrikaans imperatives often indicate distance in space, by differentiating between doing something close to the speaker or away from the speaker. Unlike in Dutch, Afrikaans imperatives do not allow for past tense reference, and only imperatives with future reference are acceptable. Afrikaans has a special marker moenie (“must not”) that is used instead of the first sentential negator nie (“not”) in negative imperative constructions. The LPH was used to analyse and make sense of canonical imperatives and negative imperatives / prohibitives in Afrikaans.