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From Utterances to Speech Acts

By Mikhail Kissine

"Kissine offers a new theory of speech acts which is philosophically sophisticated and builds on work in cognitive science, formal semantics, and linguistic typology. This highly readable, brilliant essay is a major contribution to the field."

--François Recanati, Institut Jean-Nicod

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Summary Details


Query:   About Optative Mood in Greek Language
Author:  Nicla Rossini
Submitter Email:  click here to access email
Linguistic LingField(s):   Language Documentation

Summary:   Dear Linguists,
as promised, I'm sending you a summary of my research.
If you remember, I was making a study about Optative in Greek language...
These are the results of my job:

- Optative, in Greek Language, falls completely in Hellenistic Age, but
signs of
weakness are manifest in Classic Age authors ( especially in Tragedian
Poets).

- To explain its fall, we should examine all Mood's System.

- I chose the Prototypic approach to describe every Mood: I found ,for
everyone,
a "core-definition" and all its slided meanings. F.E.:

OPATIVE

CORE DEFINITION SLIDED MEANINGS


WISH/ PRAYER POTENTIAL MOOD ( as wish/expectation )



We have also to assume that one's wish cold be feasible or not.
According to this new factor, we should supplement our scheme as below


CORE DEFINITION SLIDED MEANINGS

BY OTHERS > KIND IMPERATIVE
FEASIBLE

WISH

NOT FEASIBLE > IPOTETICAL PERIOD


According to this kind of approach, I assumed that:

- Optative's core definition is the expression of wish or prayer and the
whole of other meanings are arised from it.

- Optative's slided meanings are :
POTENTIAL
KIND IMPERATIVE
USE IN FINAL CLAUSE
USE IN COMPLETIVE CLAUSE INSTEAD OF
INDICATIVE OR CONJUNCTIVE

- The Optative System looks in growth, and we could explain its fall only
if we
assume a partial domain superposition .

- The superposition of Indicative and Opative ( or Conjunctive and Opative
) is clear, but i don't think it's decisive.

- At last, I ascribe Optative' s fall to Infinitive's growth.

- Here are the Infinitive periferical meanings: EXCLAMATION
IMPERATIVE
WISH

- The latter meaning, according to my opinion, mines Optative's CORE
DEFINITION, and make it slowly disappear.

- This problem returns to our attention in Italian Language, when we talk
about Conjunctive death.

These are my conclusions. Obviously, this treatment of the question is made
simpler.
I apologise for my English, and my inexact vocabulary.
I will consider any kind of suggestion.

Nicla Rossini
Universit di Pisa
E-MAIL: n.rossini@server.humnet.unipi.it

LL Issue: 9.1457
Date Posted: 19-Oct-1998
Original Query: Read original query


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