Embedded imperatives and command performatives with an embedded clause in Korean

Abstract

A command can be issued with an imperative or an explicit performative with an embedded clause. However, an explicit performative with an embedded imperative is not acceptable. If an imperative is embedded, it becomes a ko-phrase, where ko is a complementizer. If an explicit performative is used as a command, it take a kes-phrase with a modal adnominal ending -(u)l. I claim that a ko-phrase is interpreted as an intensional semantic entity, which makes it possible for a ko-phrase to express a non-realistic content of a command. With a kes-phrase, an explicit performative can express a command because the kes-phrase can denote an extensional semantic entity as a realistic content of a command. In showing these differences, I propose the semantics of an imperative and an explicit performative as world changers.