Imperative

An imperative is a command derived from a misplaced ostensive: an ostensive used in absence of its referent.

Examples

• "Run!"
• "[Give me the] Scalpel!"

Origin

The first imperative was derived from a misplaced ostensive. However, imperative could not have been issued as a result of the speaker "wanting the hearer to supply him with the object," because this presupposes the availability of the imperative. Instead, the misplaced ostensive can be explained by what participants in a sign community desire above all: to maintain linguistic presence.

In an ostensive language, the only means of maintaining linguistic presence is through the ostensive, which can only be issued when its referent is present on the scene. In the case of the first imperative, the speaker issues an ostensive in absence of its referent object, with the desire to actualize linguistic presence, to which the hearer, who can only interpret this as the speaker expressing his desire for the object, responds by supplying the speaker with the object. In this scenario, the ostensive language becomes an imperative language, and, within this new language, the hearer's refusal to fulfill the imperative can only be understood as a refusal of linguistic presence. Thus, in imperative languages, performance is the only satisfactory response to the imperative.

The notion of interdiction (the act of prohibiting or forbidding something) is available as early as the originary scene - the originary sign designating the sacred object can be seen as a negative imperative, indicating that its referent is not to be appropriated by any members of the group. From this perspective, in the passage from ostensive to imperative, a communal interdiction is transformed into one imposed by individual desire. Just as the object of the ostensive, whether an iten of value or of danger, is in general not to be appropriated, the object of the imperative is designated for appropriation by the speaker, and by the same token, refused to the hearer. It is the explicit formulation of this refusal, once the ostensive can be used "inappropriately" as an expression of desire, that will constitute the negative imperative.

Characteristics

The intentional structure of the imperative is a verbal request which establishes an awaiting of performance by its hearer, compliance with which abolishes the awaiting and terminates the prolonged presence that it maintained.

Like the ostensive, the imperative is derived from something currently present at the scene. The imperative makes more explicit the command in any ostensive.

References

Gans, E. L., Katz, A. L. (2019). The Origin of Language: A New Edition

Katz, A. (2020). Anthropomorphics.