Preventive Imperatives among Correlative Meanings

Abstract

The article considers structures having the meaning of prevention. Some debatable questions in the interpretation of this type of semantics and linguistic means of its expression by supporters of different scientific trends make the article topical. The objective of the study is to reveal semantic specifics of the preventive imperative and differentiate it from a number of related constructions (with the meaning of caution, threat and fear) and also from prohibitive forms and optative constructions. A descriptive method, being used within the framework of structural-semantic approach, has been used as a leading one in the present article but with a greater attention to the semantic side of the phenomenon than it is customary in grammatical research. Thus, we support grammatical approach and justify its use for analysing the constructions under discussion. As a result, we tried to create a semantic model of a preventive utterance as a complex of correlative meanings forming an indivisible semantic unity and getting a synthetic expression in the structure of the sentence. Special attention has been given to the semantic importance of the negation in the structure of the preventive imperative. The material of the article and its results may be useful for further research in the semantic area under discussion.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3s7p65