Imperatives in Dialogue [pdf]

Lascarides, A. and N. Asher [2004] Imperatives in Dialogue, in P. Kuehnlein, H. Rieser and H. Zeevat (eds.) The Semantics and Pragmatics of Dialogue for the New Millenium, Benjamins.

In this paper, we offer a semantic analysis of imperatives. We explore the effects of context on their interpretation, particularly on the content of the action to be performed, and whether or not the imperative is commanded. We demonstrate that by utilising a dynamic, discourse semantics which features rhetorical relations such as Narration, Elaboration and Correction, we can capture the discourse effects as a byproduct of discourse update (i.e., the dynamic construction of logical forms). We argue that this has a number of advantages over static approaches and over plan-recognition techniques for interpreting imperatives.


@incollection{lascarides:asher:2004,
author = {Alex Lascarides and Nicholas Asher},
title = {Imperatives in Dialogue},
year = {2004},
editor = {P.\ Kuehnlein and H.\ Rieser and H.\ Zeevat},
booktitle = {The Semantics and Pragmatics  of Dialogue for the New Millenium},
publisher = {Benjamins}
}