1887
Volume 33, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0929-7332
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9919

Abstract

Imperatives are usually thought of as direct and therefore impolite. However, imperatives such as , or are not considered impolite. The reason seems to be that these imperatives refer to actions that are beneficial to the hearer only. We make a distinction between two types of imperatives, those referring to actions that are beneficial to the speaker and those that are beneficial to the hearer. We have conducted an experiment in order to examine the relation between the two types of imperatives and how they are perceived by speakers of Dutch. The results show that there is indeed a significant difference in interpretation between the two types of imperatives in Dutch. In addition, we have tested the effects of adding a politeness marker ‘please’ or discourse particles to the imperatives.

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2016-12-14
2024-12-04
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): discourse particles; experiment; imperative; politeness; requests
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