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The imperative IPI
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The imperative Imperativus-pro-Infinitivo (IPI) is a type of argument IPI which occurs as the complement to adhortative expressions, that is, expressions denoting an advice, generally to the hearer. The imperative IPI has properties in common both with argument IPIs and with imperative main clauses.

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Two examples of the imperative IPI are provided below (BI stands for Bare Infinitive):

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a. It bêste is en jou do him in boek
the best is and give.BI you him a book
The best thing is for you to give him a book
b. Wy riede dy oan en gean do mar op 'e tiid op bêd
we advise you to and go you DcP on the time on bed
We advise you to go to bed on time

The imperative IPI is found in the complement position of adhortative predicates. The imperative IPI can be distinguished from an ordinary argument IPI by several tests. First, the imperative IPI may contain a lexical subject. This lexical subject has the form of a personal pronoun in the examples above. In contrast, other IPIs may not contain a lexical subject:

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a. *Do skrillest der net foar tebek en brûk do geweld
you recoil R not for back and use you violence
You do not shrink back from using violence
b. Do skrillest der net foar tebek en brûk geweld
you recoil R not for back and use you violence
You do not shrink back from using violence
c. *It gie yn dy om en lit do alles mar farre
it went in you around and let you everything DcP go
You considered abandoning everything and everybody
d. It gie yn dy om en lit alles mar farre
it went in you around and let everything DcP go
You considered abandoning everything and everybody

A second difference is that imperative IPIs can only occur in case the selecting adhortative predicate is directly contained in a clause which can semantically refer to the speech act situation, that is, it must refer to the here and now of the spatio-temporal egocentre. This ties in with the fact that the lexical subject of the imperative IPI is always the addressee:

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a. It bêste is en jou do him in boek
the best is and give.BI you him a book
The best thing is for you to give him a book
b. *It bêste is en jou ik him in boek
the best is and give.BI I him a book
The best thing is for me to give him a book

Incidentally, some people find the following acceptable, though:

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?It bêste is en jou ik him in boek en do in plaat
the best is and give.BI I him a book and you a record
The best thing is for me to give him a book and for you to give him a record

Reference to the here and now likewise entails that the the adhortative IPI belongs to a clause in the present tense:

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a. Wy riede dy oan en gean do mar op 'e tiid op bêd
we advise you to and go you DcP on the time on bed
We advise you to go to bed on time
b. *Wy retten dy juster oan en gean do mar op 'e tiid op bêd
we advised you yesterday to and go you DcP on the time on bed
Lit. We advised you yesterday to go to bed on time

Reference to the here and now also entails that the IPI is part of a main clause which refers to a speech act designating an advice to the addressee. Embedding of such an advice is ungrammatical:

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*It feit dat it bêste is en jou do him in boek fernuveret my
the fact that the best is and give you him a book surprises me
I find it surprising that the best thing is for you to give him a book

The here and now situation also obtains in case the adhortative predicate belongs to a hypothetical clause referring to the here and now. The past tense of certain verbs occasionally expresses such a situation, as in the following example, in which the hypothetical clause carries a strong pragmatic inference that the suggested action should be performed (because it is the best thing to do):

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It bêste wie en jou do him it boek mar wer werom
the best is and give.BI you him the book DcP again back
The best thing would be for you to give him back the book

Thirdly, the imperative IPI is unacceptable in case the adhortative predicate is negated, as shown in (8):

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a. *Wy riede (it) dy net oan en gean do mar te let op bêd
we advise it you not to and go you DcP too late on bed
We do not advise you to go to bed too late
b. *Gjinien riedt (it) dy oan en gean do mar te let op bêd
nobody advise it you to and go you DcP too late on bed
Lit. Nobody advises you to go to bed too late

In contrast, these sentences become grammatical as soon as the lexical subject inside the IPI is dropped:

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a. Wy riede it dy net oan en gean mar te let op bêd
we advise it you not to and go you DcP too late on bed
We do not advise you to go to bed too late
b. Gjinien riedt it dy oan en gean mar te let op bêd
nobody advise it you to and go you DcP too late on bed
Nobody advises you to go to bed too late

The anticipatory pronoun makes the sentence run slightly more smoothly, but if it is left out, the sentence is still acceptable. However, the anticipatory pronoun must be absent with the imperative IPI:

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a. ?*Wy riede it dy oan en gean do mar op 'e tiid op bêd
we advise it you to and go you DcP on the time on bed
We advise you to go to bed on time
b. ?*It is it bêste en jou do him it boek mar wer werom
it is the best and give.BI you him the book DcP again back
The best thing is for you to give him back the book

So the use of the anticipatory pronoun also distinguishes between adhortative IPIs and other IPIs. The adhortative IPI is very close to an ordinary imperative which is construed paratactically or syntactically as the complement of an adhortative predicate. The restriction of the imperative IPI to the here and now derives from the very nature of imperatives, which apparently remains visible in this peculiar construction.

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