THE IMPERATIVE PARADIGM REVISITED

Abstract

The article focuses on the paradigm of the imperative from a typological point of view, presenting the universal Hrakovski and Volodin’s model based on 150 languages, the semantic map of J. Van der Auwera (376 languages) and the cross-linguistic studies of E. Schalley based on two genealogically stratified samples of 419 and 206 languages, as a basis for analyzing the imperative as a morphologically disctinct grammatical unit. The so-called "defectivity" of the imperative paradigm, the minimum formal criteria for its definition, and the relevance of the inclusion of the descriptive forms in it are discussed.