LINGUIST List 13.1001

Thu Apr 11 2002

Qs: Past Imperative/Eng, Modal Verbs/Quotatives

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>



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Directory

  • Wolf, Past imperatives in English
  • Geert Brone, German modal verbs sollen and wollen in quotative constructions

    Message 1: Past imperatives in English

     Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 22:33:25 +0200
    From: Wolf <hwolffa.knaw.nl>
    Subject: Past imperatives in English


    Some time ago I posted a query on past imperatives. I would be most grateful for some more native speakers' judgements on the following four sentences. Please, only respond if you are a native English speaker, and if you accept at least one of the following sentences.

    (1) When I was a child, teachers accepted no contradiction. So did be a good boy, unless you didn't mind spending half a day in a dark coal-shed.

    (2) When I was a child, parents demanded absolute obedience. So ate your dinner without complaining, unless you didn't mind spending half a day in a dark coal-shed.

    (3) When I was a child, teachers accepted no contradiction. So were a good boy, unless you didn't mind spending half a day in a dark coal-shed.

    (4) When I was a child, parents demanded absolute obedience. So did eat your dinner without complaining, unless you didn't mind spending half a day in a dark coal-shed.

    Message 2: German modal verbs sollen and wollen in quotative constructions

     Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 18:03:04 +0200
    From: Geert Brone <Geert.Bronearts.kuleuven.ac.be>
    Subject: German modal verbs sollen and wollen in quotative constructions




    Dear LINGUIST LIST subscribers, I am currently working on a research paper dealing with modal verbs in quotative constructions. A well-known example are the German modal verbs 'sollen' and 'wollen', which a speaker can use to distance him- or herself from the original proposition (reported speech, hearsay). Consider the examples below:

    - Er soll es die ganze Zeit gewusst haben ('It is claimed that he has known it all the time'; 'He is said to have known it all the time') - Er will es die ganze Zeit gewusst haben ('He claims that he has known it all the time')

    In the construction with 'sollen', the sentence subject is not identical with the source of the original utterance ('PEOPLE claim that HE...'). In the example with 'wollen', however, we do have this identity between subject and source ('HE claims that HE has known it all the time').

    My request(s):

    - It has been shown that some other languages (Danish, Turkish, a large number of South American languages,...) have similar constructions. I would appreciate any comments, bibliographical references, examples, etc. Is it suitable to posit a common underlying conceptual phenomenon for these cases in different languages? - Although I am familiar with a number of studies on German modal verbs in quotative constructions (Diewald (1999), Palmer (1998), Reynaud (1977), Fritz & Gloning (1997)), I would welcome further references.

    I will post a summary of the replies as soon as possible.

    Sincerely, Geert Brone Geert Brone Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Departement Linguistiek Blijde-Inkomststraat 21 3000 Leuven Belgi=EB tel: (0032) (0)16-324812 fax: (0032) (0)16-324767 e-mail: geert.bronearts.kuleuven.ac.be