Indirect imperatives in the Baltic Sea region

• In Event: New Perspectives on Morphology and Syntax in the Baltic Sea Region (Hybrid Panel)

Abstract

The Baltic Sea region is characterized by intense and long-lasting language contacts primarily between Indo-European and Baltic Finnic language families. Areal studies have uncovered especially many common developments within the languages spoken in the Baltic States, namely Baltic (Latvian and Lithuanian) and South Finnic languages (Estonian and Livonian). One of the common developments is having full paradigms that primarily express indirect (reported or third person) commands. Such paradigms can be best described as indirect imperatives.
Similar constructions using hortative particles are present in many European languages including Germanic languages, however the constructions and forms are much more grammaticalized in the Baltic and South Finnic languages as well as in Russian. Another characteristic showing that it is an areal phenomenon is addressee marking. The addressee of indirect commands in the Baltic, South Finnic languages, and Russian exhibits typical subject marking while the addressee of similar constructions in e.g., Germanic languages uses marking more congruent with object marking. Furthermore, indirect imperatives in the region also share a variety of later developments as complementizers and subordinators namely introducing concessive clauses in all the languages, and even introducing purpose clauses and questions in Latvian and Livonian.
In my talk I will present the constructions used in the Baltic Sea region, peculiarities that differentiate them from similar constructions in other languages that are spoken in the area and discuss the further developments that are specific to the area.

Short Bio

Milda Dailidėnaitė is a researcher in the University of Latvia Livonian institute and a PhD student at the University of Tartu, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Department of Estonian and Finno-Ugric linguistics. Her research focuses on the Livonian language in the context of the Baltic Sea region and imperatives, more specifically indirect imperatives, their functions and morphosyntactic properties as well as common developments in the Baltic Sea region.

Author

• Milda Dailidėnaitė, UL Livonian Institute / University of Tartu