The present study investigates the use of hedging devices in the readers’ comment section of the newspaper The Guardian Online. Two comment sections were chosen for the contrastive study: ‘Politics’ in the subsection ‘Comment is free’ and the series ‘Problem solved’ in the subsection ‘Life and style’. The corpus-based analysis of the frequency of hedges has revealed that the incidence of hedging devices in comments on personal issues is higher (by 19.2%) than on political articles. Three of the most frequently occurring hedging devices, namely, might, SEEM and I (don’t) think underwent further contextual analysis: the utterances containing these items were classified according to their illocutionary force, applying Bach’s (2003) classification of illocutionary acts. The most commonly hedged speech act types, characteristic of each section, were revealed.  Subsequently, an attempt was made to account for these findings from the perspective of ‘face’ and ‘facework’ as represented by Brown and Levinson (1987), Lim and Bowers (1991), MacGeorge, Lichtman and Pressey (2002), Ting-Toomey and Kurogi (1998). Since hedging is considered to be an effective strategy in minimizing ‘threats’ to the face of the addressee, it has  been possible to conclude that in discussions of personal issues participants are more concerned to ‘save’ the addressee’s face than in the case of political matters where the comment writers’ ‘self-face seems to be in the forefront.

The diploma thesis examines the role of convention in J. L. Austin's speech act theory. It describes the possibility of "how to do things with words": such an analysis of language will be suggested that does not focus on the category of truth when dealing with particular utterances but rather replaces it with the category of felicity of a speech act in the social context. After having offered the explication including the central points of the given theory, there starts the investigation of which parts of the speech act theory are conventionally based and what role do conventions play in the speech act theory as a whole.

This thesis explores how question FORCE (Rizzi 1997) is represented and licensed in Korean polar alternative questions (Korean PAQs). The syntactic properties of polar alternative questions have not been fully discussed in the literature; this work seeks to address that gap. The thesis has two main components. First, I provide an initial detailed investigation into the syntactic structure of Korean polar alternative questions (Korean PAQs), also called A-not-A questions, such as ciwu-nun ca-ni an ca-ni? ‘Is Jiwoo sleeping or not?’ I argue that Korean PAQs consist syntactically of a single clause. In this respect, Korean PAQs are distinct from both alternative questions and polar questions. The second goal of this thesis is to account for the asymmetric behaviour of complementizers in main clauses and embedded clauses. Variant complementizers occur in main clauses in Korean PAQs, while neutralized ci is the only complementizer which is licensed to appear in embedded clauses. Furthermore, Korean PAQs are incompatible with constituent questions in main clauses, but compatible with them in embedded clauses. This asymmetry is explained by appealing to the notion of a unique illocutionary question force in main clauses. In main clauses, the syntactic constituent ForceP cannot carry more than one kind of illocutionary question force: it bears either constituent question force or polar alternative question force, but not both. In contrast, since embedded clauses contain non-question (non-answer-requiring) complementizers, separate question forms do not conflict with each other in this location. Based on a wide range of empirical data from Korean, this thesis proposes to distinguish Force (‘question’) complementizers in the main clauses from Type (‘interrogative’) complementizers in embedded clauses. The novel data from Korean polar alternative questions require a major rethinking of the received view on the analysis of complementizers as expressed in Rizzi (1997). My analysis shows that the pragmatic categories of illocutionary force are highly significant for syntactic analysis in ways that have not been treated consistently in theoretical discussions of questions, in particular as regards the very distinct roles of main and embedded ‘questions’. / Graduate

O objetivo deste trabalho é ampliar o conhecimento translinguístico sobre a categoria modo estudando-a em uma língua indígena brasileira. A motivação deste estudo se dá principalmente porque pouco se sabe a respeito dessa categoria em línguas não pertencentes ao tronco indo-europeu (Palmer, 2001). O objeto de estudo desta pesquisa é a língua Karitiana (família Tupi, subfamília Arikém) e o corpus analisado é formado por dados provenientes dos mitos e narrativas dessa língua e de dados coletados pelo autor da pesquisa com falantes nativos. A metodologia de coleta de dados foi a elicitação contextualizada defendida por Matthewson (2004) e Mendes (2014). Modo em Karitiana foi primeiramente analisado por Storto (2002). A autora afirma que a língua possui um sistema de modo bastante desenvolvido, porém, ainda pouco compreendido. Para ela, essa língua possui seis morfemas de modo: na(ka)-/ta(ka)- (declarativo), pyt- (assertivo), pyn- (deôntico), iri- (citativo), jy- (condicional) e a/-/-y (imperativo). Esses morfemas ocorrem entre o morfema de pessoa e a raiz verbal como observado em yn a-taka-hit-ø kat (glosa: eu 2p-dec-dar-nfut isso, tradução: eu te dei isso (Storto, 1999)). Nessa primeira análise, Storto (com. pess.) classifica esses morfemas como modo porque, segundo ela, eles marcam diferentes tipos de sentença na língua. A semântica e a pragmática formal foram utilizadas como embasamento teórico da pesquisa. Alguns trabalhos assumem que modo é um morfema que marca modalidade (Bybee, 1985; Palmer, 1986). Para a semântica formal modalidade é uma categoria do significado que está relacionada à expressão de necessidades e possibilidades (Kratzer, 1981; von Fintel, 2006; Hacquard, 2011). Outros trabalhos consideram que modo é um morfema que marca tipos de sentença. Na pragmática tipos sentenciais estão relacionados à força ilocucionária da sentença (Saeed, 2009; Portner, 2011). Seguindo a terminologia de Portner (2011), esta dissertação se refere aos morfemas de modo que estiverem relacionados à expressão de modalidade como modo verbal e os morfemas de modo que estiverem relacionados ao tipo sentencial são chamados modos sentenciais. A análise dos morfemas do Karitiana classificados como modo mostrou que essa língua possui dois lugares na estrutura morfossintática do verbo para marcar a categoria \'modo\' e não apenas um como assumido anteriormente como ilustrado por a-ta-jy-hit-ø celula-ty (glosa: 2p-dec-con-dar-nfut celular-obl tradução: eu te daria um celular). Esta pesquisa assume que cada posição marca um tipo específico de modo: os morfemas que ocorrem na primeira posição (e.g. na(ka)-/ta(ka)-) marcam tipos sentenciais, ou seja, são modos sentenciais e os morfemas que ocorrem na segunda posição (e.g. pyn- e jy-) marcam modalidade, ou seja, são modos verbais. Modos verbais e modos sentenciais podem coocorrer o que é uma evidência da existência de duas posições. O estudo da categoria modo em Karitiana possibilitou um melhor entendimento dessa categoria translinguisticamente. Segundo Sadock & Zwicky (1985) morfemas de modo não coocorrem e esta dissertação mostra que eles podem ocorrer se não estiverem ambos relacionados a força ilocucionária ou modalidade. / This research aims to increase the crosslinguistic knowledge about the categories mood within a study in a Brazilian indigenous language. The reason for this study is that there are not many reliable studies of this category in unfamiliar languages (Palmer, 2001). The object of study of this research is Karitiana language (Tupi family, Arikém subfamily) and the corpus analyzed here is composed by data from the miths and stories of this language as well as data collected by the author of the research from native speakers. We used contextualized data elicitation proposed by Matthewson (2004) and Mendes (2014). Mood in Karitiana was firstly analyzed by Storto (2002) who states that this language has a quite developed mood system that is at the same time not well understood. For her, this language has six mood morphemes: na(ka)-/ta(ka)- (declarative), pyt- (assertive), pyn- (deontic), iri- (citative), jy- (conditional) and a/-/-y (imperative). These morphemes occurs between the person morpheme and the verbal root as can be seen in yn a-taka-hit-ø kat (gloss: I 2p-dec-give-nfut that, translation: I gave you that (Storto, 1999)). In this first analysis, Storto (p.c.) assumes that those morphemes mark different types of sentence, being sentential mood morphemes. We used formal semantics and pragmatics as the theoretical background for the research. Some studies assume that mood is a morpheme which marks modality (Bybee, 1985; Palmer, 1986). In formal semantics modality is a category related to the expressions of possibilities and necessities (Kratzer, 1981; von Fintel, 2006; Hacquard, 2011). Other studies consider that mood is a morpheme which marks sentential types. In pragmatics the types of sentences are related to the illocutionary force of the sentence (Saeed, 2009; Portner, 2011). We follow the terminology used by Portner (2011) and call mood morphemes related to modality verbal mood and morphemes related to sentential type are called sentential mood. The analysis of the morphemes in Karitiana classified as mood has shown that this language has two positions in the morphosyntactical structure of the verb to the mood category and not only one as previously proposed. This can be seen in a-ta-jy-hit-ø celula-ty (gloss: 2p-dec-con-give-nfut cellphone-obl translation: I would give you a cellphone). This research proposes that each position mark a specific type of mood: Morphemes of the first position (e.g. na(ka)-/ta(ka)-) mark types of sentence, therefore, they are sentential moods and morphemes that occur in the second position (e.g. pyn- e jy-) mark modality, therefore, they are verbal moods. Verbal and sentential moods can co-occur what is an evidence for the existence of two positions. The study of mood done by this research allowed a better understanding of mood category crosslinguistically. For Sadock&Zwicky (1985), mood morphemes should not co-occur and this research has shown that they can co-occur if they are not both related to illocutionary force or modality.

O objetivo deste trabalho é ampliar o conhecimento translinguístico sobre a categoria modo estudando-a em uma língua indígena brasileira. A motivação deste estudo se dá principalmente porque pouco se sabe a respeito dessa categoria em línguas não pertencentes ao tronco indo-europeu (Palmer, 2001). O objeto de estudo desta pesquisa é a língua Karitiana (família Tupi, subfamília Arikém) e o corpus analisado é formado por dados provenientes dos mitos e narrativas dessa língua e de dados coletados pelo autor da pesquisa com falantes nativos. A metodologia de coleta de dados foi a elicitação contextualizada defendida por Matthewson (2004) e Mendes (2014). Modo em Karitiana foi primeiramente analisado por Storto (2002). A autora afirma que a língua possui um sistema de modo bastante desenvolvido, porém, ainda pouco compreendido. Para ela, essa língua possui seis morfemas de modo: na(ka)-/ta(ka)- (declarativo), pyt- (assertivo), pyn- (deôntico), iri- (citativo), jy- (condicional) e a/-/-y (imperativo). Esses morfemas ocorrem entre o morfema de pessoa e a raiz verbal como observado em yn a-taka-hit-ø kat (glosa: eu 2p-dec-dar-nfut isso, tradução: eu te dei isso (Storto, 1999)). Nessa primeira análise, Storto (com. pess.) classifica esses morfemas como modo porque, segundo ela, eles marcam diferentes tipos de sentença na língua. A semântica e a pragmática formal foram utilizadas como embasamento teórico da pesquisa. Alguns trabalhos assumem que modo é um morfema que marca modalidade (Bybee, 1985; Palmer, 1986). Para a semântica formal modalidade é uma categoria do significado que está relacionada à expressão de necessidades e possibilidades (Kratzer, 1981; von Fintel, 2006; Hacquard, 2011). Outros trabalhos consideram que modo é um morfema que marca tipos de sentença. Na pragmática tipos sentenciais estão relacionados à força ilocucionária da sentença (Saeed, 2009; Portner, 2011). Seguindo a terminologia de Portner (2011), esta dissertação se refere aos morfemas de modo que estiverem relacionados à expressão de modalidade como modo verbal e os morfemas de modo que estiverem relacionados ao tipo sentencial são chamados modos sentenciais. A análise dos morfemas do Karitiana classificados como modo mostrou que essa língua possui dois lugares na estrutura morfossintática do verbo para marcar a categoria \'modo\' e não apenas um como assumido anteriormente como ilustrado por a-ta-jy-hit-ø celula-ty (glosa: 2p-dec-con-dar-nfut celular-obl tradução: eu te daria um celular). Esta pesquisa assume que cada posição marca um tipo específico de modo: os morfemas que ocorrem na primeira posição (e.g. na(ka)-/ta(ka)-) marcam tipos sentenciais, ou seja, são modos sentenciais e os morfemas que ocorrem na segunda posição (e.g. pyn- e jy-) marcam modalidade, ou seja, são modos verbais. Modos verbais e modos sentenciais podem coocorrer o que é uma evidência da existência de duas posições. O estudo da categoria modo em Karitiana possibilitou um melhor entendimento dessa categoria translinguisticamente. Segundo Sadock & Zwicky (1985) morfemas de modo não coocorrem e esta dissertação mostra que eles podem ocorrer se não estiverem ambos relacionados a força ilocucionária ou modalidade. / This research aims to increase the crosslinguistic knowledge about the categories mood within a study in a Brazilian indigenous language. The reason for this study is that there are not many reliable studies of this category in unfamiliar languages (Palmer, 2001). The object of study of this research is Karitiana language (Tupi family, Arikém subfamily) and the corpus analyzed here is composed by data from the miths and stories of this language as well as data collected by the author of the research from native speakers. We used contextualized data elicitation proposed by Matthewson (2004) and Mendes (2014). Mood in Karitiana was firstly analyzed by Storto (2002) who states that this language has a quite developed mood system that is at the same time not well understood. For her, this language has six mood morphemes: na(ka)-/ta(ka)- (declarative), pyt- (assertive), pyn- (deontic), iri- (citative), jy- (conditional) and a/-/-y (imperative). These morphemes occurs between the person morpheme and the verbal root as can be seen in yn a-taka-hit-ø kat (gloss: I 2p-dec-give-nfut that, translation: I gave you that (Storto, 1999)). In this first analysis, Storto (p.c.) assumes that those morphemes mark different types of sentence, being sentential mood morphemes. We used formal semantics and pragmatics as the theoretical background for the research. Some studies assume that mood is a morpheme which marks modality (Bybee, 1985; Palmer, 1986). In formal semantics modality is a category related to the expressions of possibilities and necessities (Kratzer, 1981; von Fintel, 2006; Hacquard, 2011). Other studies consider that mood is a morpheme which marks sentential types. In pragmatics the types of sentences are related to the illocutionary force of the sentence (Saeed, 2009; Portner, 2011). We follow the terminology used by Portner (2011) and call mood morphemes related to modality verbal mood and morphemes related to sentential type are called sentential mood. The analysis of the morphemes in Karitiana classified as mood has shown that this language has two positions in the morphosyntactical structure of the verb to the mood category and not only one as previously proposed. This can be seen in a-ta-jy-hit-ø celula-ty (gloss: 2p-dec-con-give-nfut cellphone-obl translation: I would give you a cellphone). This research proposes that each position mark a specific type of mood: Morphemes of the first position (e.g. na(ka)-/ta(ka)-) mark types of sentence, therefore, they are sentential moods and morphemes that occur in the second position (e.g. pyn- e jy-) mark modality, therefore, they are verbal moods. Verbal and sentential moods can co-occur what is an evidence for the existence of two positions. The study of mood done by this research allowed a better understanding of mood category crosslinguistically. For Sadock&Zwicky (1985), mood morphemes should not co-occur and this research has shown that they can co-occur if they are not both related to illocutionary force or modality.

This research presents a study of the intention that exists in the speech acts. The context is placed as a determinant element as far as such acts are concerned, which are units of language in use. Special attention is given to the Austinian approach for its relevance to the studies of language. The previously mentioned approach provides important contributions to the performative and pragmatic understanding of language usage. Through the speech acts theory, Austin called the attention to a new conception, where language is accepted as action, starting to be seen as nontransparent, but open to different interpretations. This conception of language is supported by the performative and pragmatic approach by Austin, Searle and Grice, beginning a new phase in the linguistic studies, a new paradigm in the language study, not only for contemporary philosophy but also for linguistics. The present work shows a different approach from the philosophers aforementioned, comparing them, in order to demonstrate that there are significant differences in relation to the way they understand the intention in the speech acts. The different understandings of these researchers are also presented as well as their definitions of locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts. Finally, the Austinian contributions to the study of language are also emphasized in the present study. / Este trabalho apresenta um estudo da intenção que está presente nos atos de fala. O contexto se coloca como um determinante no que diz respeito a esses atos, os quais são unidades de linguagem em uso. Destacamos a concepção austiniana, que apresenta importantes contribuições com relação à visão performativa e pragmática do uso da língua. Com a teoria dos atos de fala, Austin evidenciou uma nova concepção, em que a linguagem é concebida enquanto ação, passando a ser vista como não transparente, mas aberta a diferentes interpretações. Essa concepção de linguagem consolida-se com a abordagem performativa e pragmática de Austin, Searle e Grice, originando uma nova etapa nos estudos linguísticos e constituindo um novo paradigma de estudo da linguagem, tanto para a filosofia contemporânea quanto para a linguística. O presente trabalho faz uma abordagem dos filósofos citados, comparando-os entre si, com a finalidade de mostrar que existem diferenças significativas em relação à forma como entendem a intenção nos atos de fala. Também destacamos os entendimentos desses estudiosos, bem como a sua definição em relação aos atos locucionários, ilocucionários e os perlocucionários. Por fim, enfatizamos as contribuições que Austin nos deixou para o estudo da linguagem.

It is by now a truth universally acknowledged that the world’s subaltern women (in Gayatri Spivak’s understanding of the term) cannot make their voices heard, that what we think we know about them are mostly stereotypes of our own making. It is likewise acknowledged that literature has a privileged status when it comes to representing these women, given its unique prerogative to retrieve their traces and convey their subjectivity through imagining. Literary texts which embark on this task can be seen as symbolic speech acts and, as such, they depend upon their illocutionary force for success in the public sphere. In this thesis I have chosen to discuss The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (2011) – a novel I perceive as a collective speech act – from the combined perspective of speech-act criticism (J. L. Austin, S. Petrey), subaltern studies (G. Spivak, G. Pandey) and feminist theory (M. P. Lara, S. Lanser). My analysis explores the interrelation between this little-known story of the first-generation Japanese women immigrants to the US and the sophisticated narrative strategy which sustains it, continually balancing between the women's heterogeneity and their shared experiences, especially their systematic silencing by the dominant population. Finally, the thesis discusses the novel’s larger illocutionary implications for the public sphere, in particular how the reclaiming of the past creates new understandings of the present as well as opens up onto the future.               Keywords: Otsuka, The Buddha in the Attic, migrant literature, picture brides, subalternity, feminist theory, communal voice, speech-act criticism, illocutionary force.

The thesis presents several so far unnoticed functions of (not only) Latin vocative. It argues against previous believes that vocative is used either for addresses, calls and summons, evaluation of addressee and emphasis, or is otherwise only conventional, polite, and thus lacking any real function. Firstly, the author describes vocative from the Speech Act Theory view-point and offers definitions of speech acts call and address. In chapters 3 and 4, he pays attention to vocatives so far considered as lacking function. Relying on the analysis mostly of Cicero's speeches and old Roman comedies, he presents two crucial functions of vocative in non-initial position in a text: 1) vocative as a mean of cohesion which helps to make the organization of the text more transparent and which emphasizes the structure of the text; 2) vocative of assurance/guarantee. In chapter 5, several minor functions of vocative are mentioned (mostly of pragmatic character): triumphal vocative, vocative as a disgrace and vocative as a parody. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

[pt] Este trabalho tem por objetivo avaliar as críticas de J. R. Searle (1932-) às Classes de força ilocucionária de J. L. Austin (1911-1960). O fato é que na XII Conferência da obra Quando dizer é fazer: palavras e ações, cujo título original é How to Do Things with Words, Austin se propõe, provisoriamente, a listar as forças ilocucionárias de proferimentos performativos cujo verbo não aparece de modo explícito. Segundo Searle, esta classificação compreende verbos ilocucionários, e não atos ilocucionários, como o autor critica no artigo Uma taxinomia dos atos ilocucionários, publicado no livro Expressão e Significado. Neste, a crítica mais contundente é a de que a classificação austiniana não tem princípios claros e bem definidos. A visão de linguagem defendida por Searle está focada na sintaxe e na semântica, pontos que estão longe da noção pragmática da linguagem e segue uma determinada direção que supõe uma base sintáticosemântica mais forte do que Austin supunha. Diante disso, se estabelece a seguinte questão: as críticas de Searle à classificação de Austin procedem? Para responder a esta indagação é necessário destacar os pontos que contribuem para a hipótese da improcedência das críticas de Searle à classificação austiniana, que examinaremos aqui. Não se quer, aqui, negar a contribuição de Searle no âmbito da filosofia em geral. No entanto, no que se refere à Filosofia da Linguagem, o resultado desta avaliação mostra que Searle, ao se concentrar na XII conferência, acaba reduzindo a Teoria dos Atos de Fala às classes: Vereditivos, Exercitivos, Comportamentais, Compromissivos e Expositivos. Basicamente, é ao longo da obra How to Do Things with Words, a cada conferência, que Austin apresenta os critérios e princípios das classes de força ilocucionária, ainda que sujeitos à revisão. / [en] The aim of this work is to evaluate the criticisms of J. R. Searle (1932 -) of the Classes of Illocutionary Force of J. L. Austin (1911-1960). The fact is that at the conference on the work when to say is to do: words and actions, Austin set out, provisionally, to list the illocutionary forces of performative utterances whose verb does not appear in an explicit manner. According to Searle, this classification covers illocutionary verbs, and not illocutionary acts, as the author criticizes in the article A taxonomy of illocutionary acts. In this text, the most scathing criticism is that Austin s classification does not have clear and well defined principles. The vision of language defended by Searle is focused on syntax and on semantics, a point that is far from the pragmatic notion of language. He follows a prescribed direction that supposes a syntactic-semantic basis that is stronger than the one supposed by Austin. In the face of this, the following question is established: Searle s criticisms of the classes of illocutionary force are well founded? To answer this enquiry it is necessary to highlight the points that contribute to the groundlessness of Searle s criticism of Austin s classification, We examine here. We do not wish here to deny the contribution of Searle to the field of philosophy in general. Nevertheless, as regards the Philosophy of Language, the result of this evaluation shows that Searle, on concentrating at the conference on the classes of illocutionary force, ends up reducing the Theory of Speech Acts to the classes: Veredictive, Expressive, Behabitive, Commissive, and Expository. Basically, it is through the work How to Do Things with Words, at each conference, that Austin presents the criteria and principles of the classes of illocutionary force, even if subjected to revision.

韓(1999)提出祈使句是指句中主要動詞是祈使情態(imperative mood)的句子，與其他句型相較下，在其他語言中祈使句具有特別的動詞構詞或句法表現；然而，中文祈使句並無任何構詞或句法機制以表現祈使情態，因此，中文祈使句的句法表現和直述句相似。本論文動機為觀察到中文祈使句與其他語言祈使句的相異處，進而研究中文如何區別中文祈使句與其他句型的差異。同時，前人對於中文祈使句的研究多從描述性觀點出發，缺理論辯證，以致分析上產生缺失；因此，本文試從衍生句法的觀點分析中文祈使句的句法結構。 本論文主要有三個研究目的: 首先，本論文研究中文祈使句的句法特徵。其次，本論文研究如何區別中文祈使句與其他句型的差異，並發現中文的附加問句可以用來區別祈使句與直述句。並且，本論文發現中文的否定祈使句“別”字句與義務性情態詞“要/不要”在句法表現上雖有相同處，但亦表現出多方面的句法相異處。再者，本論文從衍生句法的觀點研究中文祈使句的句法結構。因為中文缺乏句法標記與構詞變化，因此無法從句法層面看出中文祈使句的話語效力 (force)與情態(mood), 但藉由時制定位(tense anchoring)與祈使句的關係，本論文提出中文祈使句結構中具有祈使算子(imperative operator)。 / Han (1999) proposes imperatives are sentences whose main verbs are in the form of the imperative mood. Imperative sentences possess a distinct morphology within the verb or may be distinguished by their syntactic realization from other clause types. However, Chinese imperatives do not demonstrate verb-inflection nor do they impose morphological mechanisms to indicate mood; thus, it seems that imperatives in Chinese are similar to declaratives. This thesis observes the differences between imperatives in Chinese and in other languages, and these differences lead us to conduct a study on how Chinese distinguishes imperatives from other clause types. Moreover, this thesis finds that the previous analyses of Chinese imperatives lack theoretical grounds, as several problems and wrong prediction arise under those analyses. Thus, this study researches on the structure of Chinese imperatives from the perspective of generative grammar. The thesis has three main goals. First, this thesis investigates the syntactic characteristics of Chinese imperatives. Second, this thesis seeks to discern how Chinese distinguishes imperatives from other clause types. This study utilizes tag questions to distinguish imperatives and declaratives. Furthermore, this study finds that the imperatives bie1 and deontic Modalsobligation yao sentences are alike in some ways, but different in other ways. Third, from a generative perspective, this thesis proposes a syntactic structure of imperatives in Chinese. Although it seems difficult to find syntactic evidence of the imperative force and mood as well as a structure of imperatives because Chinese imperatives lack a morpho-syntatic strategy, this thesis proposes that Chinese possesses an imperative operator in imperatives, by examining the evidence from tense anchoring and imperatives.