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In:Grammar in Action: Building comprehensive grammars of talk-in-interaction
Edited by Jakob Steensig, Maria Jørgensen, Jan Lindström, Nicholas Mikkelsen, Karita Suomalainen and Søren Sandager Sørensen
[Studies in Language and Social Interaction 37] 2025
► pp. 264–300

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Chapter 9
Second-person singular imperatives in Finnish everyday conversations

Multifunctionality and routinization of grammatical formats

 | Åbo Akademi University
Published online: 3 June 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.37.09suo
Abstract
The chapter discusses different ways in which second-person singular imperatives are used in Finnish conversations and how this multifunctionality should be described in a grammar of Finnish talk-in-interaction. In traditional grammar writing, the description of imperatives has focused on their use in directive actions. The chapter shows that in spoken interaction, second-person singular imperatives have a wider range of functions: they can also be used in actions that are not primarily directive, e.g., storytellings, assessments, news deliveries, and informings. In such use, they function as sedimented formulae with fixed local tasks and recurrent collocative elements. The chapter suggests that formulaicity and routinization of grammatical formats play an important role in everyday language use, which should be reflected in grammar writing.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
  • 3.Distribution of second-person singular imperative forms in the data
  • 4.Analysis: Use of second-person singular imperative forms
    • 4.1Kat(s)o ‘look.2sg.imp’
    • 4.2Kuule ‘hear.2sg.imp’
    • 4.3Älä ‘neg.2sg.imp’
    • 4.4A(j)attele ‘think.2sg.imp’
    • 4.5O(d)ota ‘wait.2sg.imp’
    • 4.6Sano ‘say.2sg.imp’
    • 4.7Arvaa ‘guess.2sg.imp’
    • 4.8Summary
  • 5.Discussion: Second-person singular imperatives
    in an interactional grammar
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (50)
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