Licensing imperative subjects without an imperative operator

Abstract It is often assumed that imperatives contain a covert imperative licenser, such as an imperative operator. The purpose of the operator is to bind the imperative subject, and thereby derive a number of the syntactic properties of imperatives. In this paper, I show, based on variation in V2 imperatives in varieties of Dutch and German, that if there is an alternative way of licensing the imperative subject, presence of an imperative operator is not necessary. I put forth the novel observation that V2 imperatives are only allowed in varieties that have verbal umlaut. I argue that verbal... Mehr ...