command (n./v.)

A term used in the classification of SENTENCE FUNCTIONS, and defined sometimes on GRAMMATICAL and sometimes on SEMANTIC or SOCIOLINGUISTIC grounds. SYNTACTICALLY a command is a sentence which typically has no SUBJECT, and where the VERB is in the IMPERATIVE MOOD, e.g. Come here! Semantically it is primarily used to tell someone to do (or not do) something. From a SPEECH ACT point of view, the function of command may be expressed using other forms, e.g. that boy will stand up, or by a dominant INTONATION. The term is usually contrasted with three other major sentence functions: STATEMENT, QUESTION, EXCLAMATION. In grammatical discussion, commands are usually referred to as ‘imperative’ in form.

In GENERATIVE grammar, the term is used to express the structural relations that hold between two elements in a TREE. There are several uses of the term ‘command’, but of particular importance are constituent-command, invariably abbreviated to c-command, and maximal-command, invariably abbreviated to m-command. Canonically, a NODE A c-commands another node B if and only if the first branching node that DOMINATES A also dominates B, and A does not dominate B. A node A m-commands another node B if and only if the first maximal PROJECTION which dominates A also dominates B. Thus, in the TREE

N m-commands Det although it does not c-command it. In the tree

V does not m-command N″ although it c-commands it. C-commanding is an important notion in the explication of GOVERNMENT.