6. Subjects of Imperatives
6.4 The Unique Properties of Imperative Subjects
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
6.4 The Unique Properties of Imperative Subjects
As mentioned in Section 6.1, Zanuttini (2008) observes that imperative subjects in English are different from subjects in other clause types from several perspectives such as binding possibility and the interpretation of null imperative subjects, etc. After reviewing the peculiarities of imperative subjects in English, in this section, this study proposes that imperative subjects in Chinese also demonstrate the following characteristics which are different from subjects in other clause types.
6.4.1 Person Pronouns
In examining the following (126) to (129), this study notices that when there is an overt subject in negative imperatives, the first person plural, second person singular and plural, and quantificational subjects are all grammatical, whereas first person singular and third person singular and plural are ungrammatical.
(126) a.*我別看漫畫
* wo bie kan manhua.
I neg read comic books
‘* I , don’t read comic books.’
b. 我們別看漫畫
women bie kan manhua I Plural neg read comic book ‘We, don’t read comic books.’
(127) 你/你們 別看漫畫
ni/ ni-men bie kan manhua.
you /you-plural neg read comic book.
‘You, don’t read comic books.’
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(128) *他/他們別看漫畫
ta/ ta-men bie kan manhua.
he they neg read comic books ’*He/ they, don’t read comic books.’
(129) 每個人都別看漫畫
mei-ke-ren dou bie kan manhua.
everyone all neg read comic book ‘Everyone, don’t read comic books.’
6.4.2 Quantificational Subjects
Zanuttini (2008) claims that the quantificational subjects in imperatives are different from those of other clause types in terms of binding possibility in English. It is observed that quantificational imperative subjects in Chinese also demonstrate the characteristics of binding possibility; quantificational subjects in imperatives can only bind a second person reflexive or anaphora, as in (130) below.
(130)每個人 i 舉起*他自己 i 的/*她自己 i 的/*他們自己 i 的/你自己 i 的手 mei-ge-ren juqi ta ziji de/ ta ziji de /
everyone raise herself / himself / ta-men ziji de/ ni ziji de shou they self / you self hand ‘Everyone raise *his/ *her/ *their/ your hand.’
In contrast, quantificational subjects in declaratives and interrogatives can only bind a third person pronoun and anaphor, but not a second person one, as seen in (131) below.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(131) 每個人 i 舉起他自己 i 的/她自己 i 的/他們自己 i 的/*你的手 mei-ge-ren juqi ta ziji de/ ta ziji de /
everyone raise herself / himself / ta-men ziji de/ ni ziji de shou they self / you self hand
‘Everyone raise his/ her/ their/ *your hand.’
6.4.3 Bare Noun Phrases
In examining (132) and (133) below, this study observes that bare nouns as subjects of imperatives lack the generic interpretation which they may possess in declaratives and interrogatives.
(132) 男生去打籃球，女生去游泳
nansheng qu da lanqiu. nuusheng qu youyong.
Boys go play basketball. Girls go swim ‘Boys go playing basketball. Girls go swimming.’
(133) 男生喜歡踢足球女生只喜歡看足球賽
nansheng xihuan ti zuqiu. nuusheng zhi xihuan kan zuqiusai Boys like play soccer Girls only like watch games.
‘Boys like to play soccer while girls only like to watch games.’
While the bare nouns in (133) mean that boys, in general, love playing soccer and girls, in general, merely enjoy watching the foot ball games, the bare nouns in (132) are not interpreted as the generic reading. Instead, the bare nouns, ‘boys’ and
‘girls’, in the imperatives refer to a subset of the group of addressees.
Similarly, bare plural subjects in imperatives can and only can bind a second person pronoun and anaphora as in (134) below.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(134) 男生 i 舉起你的 i 右手，女生 i 舉起你的 i 左手
nansheng juqi ni-de you shou. nuusheng juqi ni-de zuo shou.
Boys raise your right hand. Girls raise your left hand.
‘Boys raise your right hands. Girls raise your left hands.’
This is clearly in contrast with their behavior in declaratives and interrogatives, where they cannot bind a second person element, but can only bind a third person anaphora as in (135) below.
(135) 男生 i 不舉起*你 i 的/他 i 的右手
Nansheng bu juqi ni-de/ ta-de you shou Boys neg raise your/ their right hand.
‘Boys do not raise *your/their right hand.’
6.4.4 Proper Names
Proper names acting as imperative subjects are individuals that have been selected from a set of addressees. In (136) below, they occur perfectively in coordinate structures (Potsdam 1996).
(136) 湯母坐下,約翰站起來
Tangmu zuoxia. Yuehan zhan qilai.
Tom sit down John stand up ‘Tom sit down. John stand up. ’
Only in imperatives can proper names10 (as subjects) bind a second person
10 Proper names are actually third person nouns, however, in imperatives, this study considers that proper names as imperative subjects possess second person features.
That is, proper names are third person noun in essence but when proper names appear in the syntactic position of imperative subjects, they are assigned the second person features. Therefore, this study proposes that proper names as imperative subjects bind
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
pronoun and anaphora, as seen in (137) below; in declaratives and interrogatives, proper names cannot bind a second person pronoun or anaphora, as in (138) below.
(137) 張三打掃你自己的房間
Zhangsan dasao ni-ziji-de fangjian.
Zhangsan clean your room.
‘John clean your room.’
(138) *張三 i 打掃你自己 i 的房間嗎?
Zhangsan dasao ni-ziji-de fangjian ma?
Zhangsan clean your room. Q
6.4.5 Interpretation of Null Subjects
When no overt subject is specified, the subject in imperatives can only be interpreted in a first person plural, a second person or a quantifier subject, as illustrated in (139) to (143) below. In contrast with their counterparts in declaratives and interrogatives, null subjects in declaratives and interrogatives can be interpreted as a third person pronoun.
(139) 別說謊
bie shuohuang.
neg lie ‘Don’t lie.’
(140)a. *(我)別說謊
* (Wo) bie shuohuang.
I, neg lie ‘I, don’t lie.’
second person pronouns and anaphora.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
b. (我們)別說謊
(Wo men) bie shuohuang..
I plural neg lie
‘We, don’t lie.’
(141) 你/你們別說謊
(Ni /Ni men) bie shuohuang.
you /you plural neg lie
‘You, don’t lie.’
(142) (*他/*她/*他們)別說謊
(*Ta/ Ta/*Ta men) bie shuohuang..
he/ she/ they neg lie
‘He/ She/They, don’t lie.’
(143) 每個人別說謊
(mei-ke-ren) bie shuohuang.
everyone neg lie
‘Everyone, don’t lie.’
In summary, the main characteristic observed from the above subjects in imperatives is that they all license or bind a second person anaphor but not a third person in the object position. It is worth noting that only in imperatives can proper names, common nouns, and quantificational subjects that are actually third person elements bind second person anaphora, which violates the binding principle, given they are not co-indexed with the second person semantically.