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Imperatives and non-imperative command strategies in Western Oromo

Girma Mengistu Desta

Résumés

Cet article étudie, tant au niveau de la forme que de la fonction, les constructions impératives en oromo occidental, ainsi que d’autres mécanismes visant à exprimer des ordres sans recourir à l’impératif. Il décrit les réalisations morphologiques des paradigmes des deuxième et troisième personnes de l’impératif affirmatif et négatif des verbes principaux et dépendants. En se fondant sur des données recueillies dans un corpus de textes en ligne, auprès de locuteurs natifs ainsi que dans des sources secondaires, cette étude porte également sur la structure d’autres constructions, distinctes de l’impératif, lesquelles sont aussi utilisées pour transmettre des ordres. L’analyse montre que, en oromo occidental, la deuxième personne de l’impératif est la plus simple de toutes les formes verbales. En effet, contrairement à la troisième personne de l’impératif et à d’autres formes verbales, la deuxième personne de l’impératif n’est pas marquée pour l’aspect. Quant à la marque converbale d’antérieur, aux marques d’objet direct et indirect de troisième personne ainsi qu’au pronom clitique sujet de première personne, il appert que ces éléments sont des morphèmes compatibles aussi bien avec la deuxième qu’avec la troisième personne de l’impératif. Les constructions impératives sont principalement utilisées pour exprimer des ordres et des avertissements, mais elles peuvent également être employées dans d’autres contextes, notamment pour les bénédictions, malédictions, adieux et suggestions. Les ordres et les avertissements peuvent également être rendus au moyen de constructions interronégatives ou de propositions « insubordonnées » (subordonnées employées avec une valeur de propositions indépendantes). Par ailleurs, pour adresser des ordres aux animaux, les locuteurs de l’oromo occidental ont recours à des interjections.

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1. Introduction

1Oromo (endonym: Afaan Oromoo) belongs to the Lowland East Cushitic group of languages within the Afroasiatic phylum. It is spoken by at least 25 million native speakers in Ethiopia according to the last published census (Central Statistical Agency 2007) as well as by about 360,000 people in Kenya and 42,000 people in parts of Somalia that border Ethiopia (Eberhard et al. 2019). According to Feda (2015), who calculated the lexical distance between different varieties of Oromo spoken in Ethiopia, there are six dialects: the western dialect (spoken in Wollegga, Illubabor, and Jimma), the central dialect (spoken in Shoa), the northern dialect (spoken in Rayya and Wollo), the southeastern dialect (spoken in Arsi and Bale), the southern dialect (spoken in Borana and Guji), and the eastern dialect (spoken in Harar). However, there is a general consensus that the western and central dialects are quite similar to each other (Banti & Shimelis 2023). Oromo is the official language in the Oromia regional state. It is also the medium of instruction in primary schools, teachers’ training colleges, and in Oromo departments of public universities. It is written in a Roman-based orthography called “Qubee”.

2The phonological inventory of the western variety of Oromo includes 24 consonants and five vowels (Gragg 1976: 174). Consonant gemination and vowel length are phonemic. The occurrence of clusters and geminate consonants is only permitted in word-medial positions. Adjacent vowels of different qualities are not allowed. Pitch phenomena have not yet been studied in detail. However, some sources indicate that the language has two level tones, high and low, with lexical and grammatical functions (Banti & Shimelis 2023: 260). Western Oromo shows concatenative morphology, in which syntactic relations and grammatical categories are signaled by the addition of affixes to stems. The language is predominantly suffixing, only some morphemes are prefixes. The language is verb-final. In verb phrases, subordinate clauses precede main clauses. In contrast, in noun phrases, modifiers (adjectives, relative clauses) and determiners follow the head noun. Possessor nouns also follow possessed nouns (Banti & Shimelis 2023: 291).

3Imperatives have received some attention in previous grammatical descriptions of the different varieties of Oromo (Gragg 1976: 188; Owens 1985: 67; Stroomer 1987: 139ff.; 1995: 87ff.; Banti & Shimelis 2023: 269). Banti (2004) also uses some data from Oromo for his comparative study of Cushitic imperatives. They neither examine with which grammatical morphemes the imperative forms can combine nor do they analyze the wide range of meanings rendered by imperatives. Hence this study presents a comprehensive account of Western Oromo imperatives both from a formal and a functional perspective. In addition, it describes non-imperative command strategies that have not received any attention so far.

4The paper is organized into seven sections. After this introduction, the Section 2 gives a brief account of crosslinguistic features of imperatives and non-imperative command expressions, as proposed in the typological literature. Section 3 deals with the methodological issues related to data collection and presentation. In Section 4, the formal aspects of both second and third person affirmative and negative imperatives and the grammatical morphemes that are able to combine with them are examined. The range of meanings conveyed by imperative constructions is discussed in Section 5. Section 6 deals with non-imperative command strategies. Section 7 concludes the paper.

2. A crosslinguistic characterization of imperatives

5Imperatives are verb constructions whose prototypical function is to express directive speech acts such as commands, orders, and requests, but they are also used for illocutionary forces such as invitations, exhortations, suggestions, instructions, entreaties, pleas, and advice or permissions (König & Siemund 2007: 303; Schalley 2008: 50). Whether the term “imperative” is restricted to utterances directed at the second person or also covers the first and third persons has been a topic of debate for a long time. According to Bybee et al. (1994: 179) and Payne (1997: 303), for example, an imperative is a verb form or a construction type used directly to command or request the addressee, i.e., the second person, to perform some action. However, many linguists do not agree with this narrow definition, arguing that an action expressed by an imperative construction can also be performed by first and third persons even though it is the second person who is directly addressed (Schalley 2008: 14). They extend their definition beyond the second person to include first and third person subjects for which, traditionally, the terms “hortative” and “jussive” have been used (König & Siemund 2007: 301). Linguists advocating for a wider definition then make distinctions between “canonical” and “non-canonical” imperatives (Aikhenvald 2010: 17; 2017: 5). Whereas “canonical imperatives” are verbal forms that express speech acts directed to the second person, “non-canonical imperatives” are verbal forms that express speech acts directed to non-addressees such as the speaker (first person) or a third party (third person) (Aikhenvald 2010: 3). It is also highlighted in the literature that the most common and prototypical category of imperatives are canonical imperatives.

6The analysis presented here follows the extended definition of imperatives and treats both second person-directed and third person-directed expressions. However, the terms “canonical” and “non-canonical” are not used in this paper because the western variety of Oromo lacks a special verbal form for commands directed at the first person, and the category of non-canonical imperatives includes both first and third person subjects. In the absence of a special verb form for a speech act directed at the first person, the use of the term “non-canonical imperative” would be inappropriate. Therefore, the terms “second person imperative” and “third person imperative” are used. In this paper, I consider the term “imperative” as a label for the grammatical form of an utterance and the term “command” as a label for the function of an utterance, following Aikhenvald (2010: 1).

7Typologically, formal expressions of imperatives can be affixes, clitics, particles, special forms of pronouns, and periphrastic constructions (Aikhenvald 2010: 18). According to Aikhenvald (2010: 18), inflectional morphemes tend to mark the imperative of synthetic languages. In isolating and highly analytic languages, the imperative is predominantly expressed by particles. There are also languages in which a bare root or stem of the verb is used to mark the imperative. In Western Oromo, imperatives are expressed by affixes (cf. §4-§5).

8The use of imperative verbs for directive speech acts such as commands, orders, and requests is crosslinguistically a universal phenomenon (Aikhenvald 2010: 38). However, languages may also use non-imperative constructions for directive speech acts. This phenomenon is mostly observed in languages without dedicated imperative forms (Aikhenvald 2010: 257). But languages with dedicated imperatives may also use non-imperative command constructions such as declarative and interrogative sentences. The purpose of using such constructions in languages with dedicated imperatives is mostly to make the speech act more polite. Depending on the language, such constructions may equally well communicate strong commands. Whether the speech act is polite or strong is understood from the context, intonation, and body language (Aikhenvald 2010: 257).

3. The data

9The data examined in this paper were collected from a web text corpus, native speakers, and another secondary source. Out of the 76 examples used in this paper, 37 belonging to the western dialect of Oromo were carefully selected and extracted from the text corpus built by Suchomel & Rychlý (2016) (henceforth S & R 2016 in the text). 38 examples were elicited from native speakers of the western dialect of Oromo. The remaining sentential example is from Dirribee et al. (2012). Animal-directed interjections were collected through elicitation.

10The sentential data in this paper are presented in a four-line format. In the first line, the data are written in Qubee, the official Oromo orthography. The second line presents the morpheme-by-morpheme segmentation, transcribed with IPA symbols and tone marking. The IPA symbols are used in the second line because they are more convenient than the orthography to show the underlying morphological structure of the words. However, vowel length is not represented by the IPA length mark (ː) but by double vowels. This is because, vowel length sometimes has grammatical function, and long vowels need to be segmented into different morphemes. The third and fourth lines are used for the interlinear glosses and the free translation, respectively.

4. Formal realization of imperatives

11In Western Oromo, both second person and third person imperatives are expressed by inflectional morphemes attached to the verb stems. In the following subsections, I will describe the form of imperatives in affirmative and negative sentences. The following table summarizes the imperative markers.

Table 1 — Imperative markers

Person Affirmative Negative (hìn-verb stem-(í)n-imp)
Main verb Converb Main verb Converb
2sg -i, -ú̥, -ɗú̥ -ii, -úu, -ɗúu -Ø -íi
2pl -áa, -ɗáa -áa, -ɗáa -áa -áa
3sg haa- haa- -íi
3pl haa- haa- -íi

12Table 1 makes clear that on affirmative main verbs and converbs, suffixes and prefixes are used as markers of the second and third persons, respectively. However, all imperative markers are suffixes on negative main verbs and converbs.

4.1 Second person imperative

13The second person imperative verb is the simplest and the formally least marked of all verb forms. It consists only of a verb root and the second person imperative marker. Unlike on the third person imperative, grammatical categories such as aspect are not marked on the second person imperative verb. Markers of the second person imperative are portmanteau morphemes that simultaneously mark the grammatical categories of mood, i.e., imperative, person, i.e., second person, and number, i.e., singular or plural.

  • 1 In contrast, in Boraana Oromo, the regular second person imperative marker -i is also used with im (...)
  • 2 *Caat- verb roots in Oromo like baat- ‘carry’, kaat- ‘run’, and ɲaat- ‘eat’ seem to have been form (...)
  • 3 Owens (1985: 63) states that, in Harar Oromo, the benefactive middle -at (labelled “subject-reflex (...)

14In the affirmative paradigm, the regular second person singular imperative marker on main verbs is the low-toned -i (1). The low-toned -i may occur with a high tone when it is followed by another morpheme, e.g. the additive morpheme in (8). With so-called “imperative-only” main verbs, the second person singular marker is the lexically conditioned allomorph -ú̥ (2), which is high-toned, but devoiced.1 The imperative-only verbs, which occur only in the affirmative paradigm, are motion verbs such as kótt- ‘come’, been- ‘go’ and hóoʔ- ‘take’. The suffix -ɗú̥ is a phonologically conditioned allomorph of -ú̥ attached to verb roots of the structure *Caat-2 (3), to benefactive middle verb stems (4), and to inchoative verb stems (5). The benefactive middle and the regular inchoative verb stems are marked by -(a)at.3

(1) Yeroo hundumaa warra kaaniif ulfina kenni.
jeróo húnd-úmá-á wárrá káan-iif ulf-íná kénn-i
time all-foc-poss people other-dat weight‑nmlz give‑2sg.imp
‘Always respect others (lit. time of all, give weight to other people)!’ [S & R 2016: 4980124]
(2) Yeroo barbaaddetti kottu.
jeróo bárbáad-t-é-ttí kótt-ú̥
time want-2-pf-loc come-2sg.imp
‘Come at the time you want!’ [S & R 2016: 3666075]
(3) Biddeena keenya har’aa nuuf laadhu.
biddéená kéeɲɲa harʔá-á nu-uf láat-ɗú
food 1pl.poss today-poss 1pl-dat give-2sg.imp
‘Give us our daily (lit. of today) food!’ [S & R 2016: 1363284)
(4) Ati garuu yeroo soomtu mataa kee dibadhu; fuula kees dhiqadhu.
ati gárúu jeróo sóom-t-Ø-u matáa kée
2sg.sbj however time fast‑2-sg-ipf head 2sg.poss
dib-át-ɗ̥ fúulá kée-s ɗík-át-ɗ̥
apply_lotion‑mid‑2sg.imp face 2sg.possadd wash‑mid‑2sg.imp
‘And you, however, apply lotion to your head and wash your face when you fast!’ [S & R 2016: 2801161, 2801165]
(5) Gorsa siif kennametti jabaadhu, ...
górsa sí-íf kénn-ám-é-ttí̥ dʒab-áat-ɗ̥
advice 2sg.obj-dat give-pass-pf-loc strong-inch-2sg.imp
‘Become strong at the advice you are given!’ [S & R 2016: 3028439]
  • 4 In Oromo, the lengthening of the perfective aspect marker -e to -ee has the same clause-coordinati (...)

15With imperative converbs, the second person singular imperative markers occur as -ii (6) and -úu (7) or -ɗúu (8). The lengthening of the imperative vowels has additional clause coordinating (chaining) function.4

(6) Dhaqii, waan qabdu gurgurii warra deegaadhaafis kenni.
ɗák-ii wáan k’áb-t-Ø-u gúrgúr-ii
go-2sg.imp.cvb thing hold-2-sg-ipf sell-2sg.imp.cvb
wárrá déeg-áa-ɗa-af-ís kénn-i
people be.poor‑nmlz.m‑lnk‑dat‑add give-2sg.imp
‘Go and sell whatever you have (lit. hold) and give it to the poor!’ [S & R 2016: 1534873,1534877]
(7) ... hammuma dhumaatti kottuu nu geggeessi.
hámm-úma ɗum-á-a-tti kótt-úu nu géggéess-i
until-foc end-nmlz-poss-loc come-2sg.imp.cvb 1pl accompany-2sg.imp
‘Come and accompany us up to the end!’ [S & R 2016: 4315104]
(8) ... taa’ii, nyaadhuu, dugii gammadis.
táaʔ-ii ɲáat-ɗúu ɗúg-ii gámmád-í-s
sit-2sg.imp.cvb eat-2sg.imp.cvb drink-2sg.imp.cvb be.happy-2sg.imp-add
‘Sit down and eat and drink, and be happy as well!’ [S & R 2016: 2331466]

16The regular second person plural imperative marker in the affirmative paradigm is the high toned -áa (9). It is used for second person plural or honorific second person singular addressees. With *Caat- verb roots (10), benefactive middle verb stems (11), and inchoative verb stems (12), the second person plural imperative is realized as -ɗáa. The same imperative markers are used on converbs with a clause-chaining function (13)-(14).

(9) Boqonnaa ga’aa argachuu akka dandeessanitti yeroodhaan rafaa.
bok’ót-náa gáʔ-áa árg-át-úu ákká dánd-áʔ-s-án-ítti
rest-nmlz be.enough-nmlz.m see‑mid‑vn sim able‑inch‑caus‑pl‑foc
jeróo-ɗa-an ráf-áa
time‑lnk‑inst sleep-2pl.imp
‘Sleep in time so that you can get (lit. be able to see) enough rest!’ [S & R 2016: 2016: 4450395]
(10) Dhaqaa nyaata fo’amaa nyaadhaa.
ɗák’-áa ɲáatá foʔ-ám-áa ɲáat-ɗáa
go-2pl.imp.cvb food select-pass-nmlz.m eat-2pl.imp
‘Go and eat selected food!’ [S & R 2016: 2209868]
(11) Lafattiin midhaan kan magarsitu ta’uushees qoradhaa!
lafa-ttíi-n midháan kán mágár-s-ít-u
land-sgv.f‑nom crops comp grow‑caus‑3sg.f-ipf
táʔ-úu-ʃée-s qor-át-ɗáa
become-vn-3sg.f-add inquire-mid-2pl.imp
‘Inquire (check) whether (lit. that) the land is able to grow crops!’ [S & R 2016: 3332621]
(12) ... lafa kana irratti rakkinni isin argata; garuu jabaadhaa.
láfá kána irrá-ttí rakk-ín-ní isín árg-át-á gárúu
land this.obj on-loc problem-nmlz-nom 2pl see-mid-ipf but
jab-áat-ɗáa
strong-inch-2pl.imp
‘You may face a problem (lit. a problem may see/get you) in this world; but be strong!’ [S & R 2016: 1955133]
(13) Mul’ata Yohaannis dhaqaa ilaalaa.
mulʔ-át-á jóhaannis ɗák-áa iláal-áa
reveal-mid-nmlz John go-2pl.imp.cvb look.at-2pl.imp
‘Go and read (lit. look at) the revelation of John!’ [S & R 2016: 1927179]
(14) Kitaaba kana bitadhaa yaadannoo seenaaf kaa’aa.
kitáabá kána bit-át-ɗáa jaad-át-nóo
book this.obj buy-mid-2pl.imp.cvb remember-mid-nmlz
séenaa-f káaʔ-áa
history-dat put-2pl.imp
‘Buy this book and keep it for the memory of history!’ [S & R 2016: 2299152]

17In the negative imperative (prohibitive) paradigm, the second person singular imperative is unmarked on the main verb (15) but realized as a low-toned -ii on the clause-coordinating dependent verb (converb) (16). The second person plural imperative marker is -áa on both main (17) and co-subordinate verbs (18). Negation is expressed by a bipartite negative marker hin-…-(í)n. If present, the imperative marker follows the suffixal negative morpheme. As a result, the imperative marker does not come in contact with the benefactive and inchoative morpheme and the condition for the use of the second person plural imperative allomorph -ɗaa is never met.

(15) Deebiisaa sirriitti hinbeektu taanaan tilmaamaan deebii hinkennin.
deebíi=sá-a sírríi-ttí̥ hin-béek-t-u taʔ-náan tilmáamá-an
answer=3sg.m.obj-poss right-loc neg-know-2-ipf be-cond guess-inst
deebíi hin-kenn-ín-Ø
answer neg-give-neg-2sg.imp
‘Don’t give an answer by guessing if you don’t know the right answer!’ [S & R 2016: 434299]
(16) ... maaltu na dhibe jettee hinrafinii akkamitti akka dirmattuuf irratti dalagi.
máal-tú̥ ná ɗib-e dʒeɗ-t-ée hin-raf-ín-íi
what-foc 1sg.obj bother‑pf say‑2‑pf.cvb neg‑sleep‑neg‑2sg.imp.cvb
akka=m-íttí ákká dírmát-t-ú-uf irrá-ttí dálág-i
sim=which‑loc sim help-2ipf-appl on-loc work-2sg.imp
‘Don’t say, “why should I bother”, and sleep, (but) work on how you can help (others)!’ [S & R 2016:128440]
(17) Kanaafis cimaa, ija jabaadhaa, isaan hinsodaatinaa; hinnaʼinaas!
kana-af-ís tʃ’ím-áa ídʒá dʒáb-áat-ɗáa isáan
this.obj-dat-add be.strong‑2pl.imp eye strong‑inch‑2pl.imp 3pl
hin-sod-aat-ín-áa hin-naʔ-ín-áa-s
neg‑fear‑inch‑neg‑2pl.imp neg-shock-neg-2pl.imp-add
‘And for this reason, be strong and courageous; do not be frightened (by them) and do not get shocked!’ [S & R 2016: 5064434, 5064437]
(18) wal hinceepha’inaatii ofuma ilaalaa …
wal hin-tʃeep-aʔ-ín-áa-tii óf-úma iláal-áa
each_other neg-criticize-mid-neg-2pl.imp-acvb self-foc see-2pl.imp
‘Don’t criticize each other, (but) look at (examine) yourselves!’ [S & R 2016: 267828]

18The bipartite negative marker hin-...-(í)n is not only used with second person imperative verbs but also with third person imperative and any perfective verbs. However, these verb forms are structurally different. While the negative second person imperative distinguishes a plural from a singular form, all number (and person) distinction are neutralized in the other two verb types. In the negative perfective paradigm, the same verb form, e.g. hin-déem-n-e (neg-go-neg-pf) ‘(so.) didn’t go’, is used for all first, second, and third persons. With the third person imperative verbs, too, the same verb form hin-deem-ín (neg-go-neg) ‘let (so.) not go’ is used for 3sg.m and 3pl (cf. §3.2. for further discussion). In the imperfective paradigm, the negative is expressed by hin- only, as in hin-déem-t-Ø-u (neg-go-2-sg-ipf) ‘you will not go’ (Gragg 1976: 188–189). In contrast to negative perfective verbs, negative imperfective verbs maintain all of their subject and aspect markers. The absence of the negative suffix in the negative imperfective verb forms may be the cause of the neutralizations.

19In summary, the regular affirmative second person imperative markers on main verbs are -i and -áa for singular and plural, respectively. With imperative-only verbs, the second person singular is -u, while the second person plural imperative remains the same: -áa. *Caat-verb roots and middle and inchoative verb stems bear -ɗú̥ and -ɗáa for affirmative singular and plural imperative, respectively. Converbs that are dependent on imperative verbs are marked by -ii, -úu, and -ɗúu. In the negative imperative, the singular is unmarked, and the plural is invariably marked by -áa.

20The imperative markers in the western dialect of Oromo are largely the same as those forms used in other dialects (cf. Owens 1985: 67; Stroomer 1995: 72, among others). But some variation has been observed in the southern (Booranaa) dialect, where, in contrast to the eastern and western dialects, the regular second person marker -i is also used for imperative-only verbs such as kótt- ‘come’ and béen- ‘go’ (Stroomer 1995: 79).

21In his comparative study of Cushitic imperatives, Banti (2004) identifies three groups of Cushitic languages based on the morphemes they use in the second person imperative: (i) languages with Ø, (ii) languages with ‑i, and (iii) languages with both Ø and -i. In this typology, Oromo belongs to the languages with -i in the second person imperative. However, Banti’s (2004) categorization has certain limitations because his comparison does not take the negative imperative forms into account. If the negative imperative is considered, Western Oromo becomes a language with both Ø and -i second person imperatives since the second person singular is unmarked in the negative paradigm. With regard to the second person singular imperative morphemes used with imperative-only verbs, *Caat-verb roots, and middle and inchoative verb stems, Western Oromo well fits to Omo-Tana languages like Dhaasanach (Banti 2004) and Oromoid languages like Konso (Ongaye 2013: 164). The use of -a or -aa for the second person plural imperative is very common across Cushitic. According to Banti (2004), many of the languages belonging to three of the four main groups of Cushitic, e.g. Bilin, Kemant, Saho, Oromo, Dhaasanac, Rendille, Harso and Burunge, mark this form either by -a or -aa.

4.2 Third person imperative

  • 5 The use of the third person imperative marker haa- as a marker of the hortative is not common in t (...)

22The third person imperative (jussive) is a type of non-canonical imperative (Aikhenvald 2010: 47). It is understood as an indirect command to a third person via an addressee. In Western Oromo, the affirmative third person imperative forms an inflectional paradigm distinct from the second person imperative.5 While the second person imperative is expressed by different suffixes for the singular and plural subjects, the third person imperative is invariably marked by the prefix haa-. In the affirmative third person imperative paradigm, subjects are indexed on the verb by agreement suffixes which are also used with the perfective and imperfective verbs. Unlike the second person imperatives, the third person imperative verb is able to combine with aspect marking suffixes. The aspect markers are -ú̥ for singular subjects (19) and -i for plural subjects (20). Lengthening the aspect suffixes marks third person imperative converbs, as in (21) and (22).

(19) … abban manaa … haadha manaa isaa akka ofii isaatiitti haajaallatu; haati manaas abbaa manaa isheetiif ulfina haakennitu.
abbáa-n máná-a haaɗa maná-a isá-a ákká ofíi
father-nom house-poss mother house-poss 3sg.m.obj-poss sim self
  isa-a-tí-ittí̥ haa-jáall-át-Ø-ú̥ háaɗ-ní máná-a-s
3sg.m‑poss‑lnk‑loc 3imp‑love‑inch‑3sg.m‑ipf mother‑nom house-poss-add
  abbáa máná-a íʃée-ti-if ulf-íná haa-kénn-ít-ú̥
father house-poss 3sg.f.poss-lnk-dat weigh-nmlz 3imp-give‑3sg.f‑ipf
‘…let a husband (lit. father of a house) … love his wife (lit. mother of a house) as much as he loves himself, and let the wife respect (lit. give weight to) her husband.’ [S & R 2016: 379465 & 379474]
(20) Fuulli lamaan sun wal haafakkaatani.
fúul-ní lámá-an sún wal haa-fákk-áat-án-i
face-nom two-add that.sbj each_other 3imp-similarity-inch-3pl-ipf
‘Let those two pages (lit. faces) become similar.’ [S & R 2016: 59059]
(21) Caaltuun buna haadanfiftuu ati mana qulqulleessi.
tʃ’áaltúu-n búná haa-dánf-ís-t-uu ati máná
Chaltu-nom coffee 3imp-boil-caus-3sg.f-ipf.cvb 2sg.sbj house
qúlqúll-éeʔ-s-i
clean-inch-caus-2sg.imp
‘Let Chaltu make (lit. boil) coffee, and you clean the house.’ [Elicited]
(22) Isaan kitaabicha haabitatanii qarshii kenniif.
isáan kitaab-íttʃá haa-bít-át-án-ii k’árʃíi kénn-í-if
3pl book-sgv.m 3imp-buy-mid-3pl-cvb money give-2sg.imp-3io
‘Let them buy the book themselves, and you give them money.’ [Elicited]

23In Western Oromo, the third person imperatives are negated by the bipartite negative marker hin--ín. A verb stem to which hin--ín is circumfixed does neither have the third person imperative marker haa- nor any of the subject agreement and aspect markers. The subject is either understood from the linguistic or extra-linguistic context, or expressed by independent nominal or pronominal subjects. Like in the affirmative, the suffix -ii marks the converb, as demonstrated in Table 2 below. Using an invariable negative verb form across different persons, genders, and numbers is also a strategy used in the perfective main verb paradigm (Gragg 1976: 188).

Table 2 — Third person negative imperative verb forms

Person Pronoun Main verb Converb Translation
3sg.m inni hin-ɗuf-in hin-ɗuf-in-ii ‘Let him not come.’
3sg.f iʃeen hin-ɗuf-in hin-ɗuf-in-ii ‘Let her not come.’
3pl isaan hin-ɗuf-in hin-ɗuf-in-ii ‘Let her not come.’

24From the above description, one can observe that the negative form of the third person imperative verbs is identical to the second person singular imperative verb form. But the second person plural negative imperative differs from these forms in that the subject is marked by -áa after the negative suffix.

25As discussed in §3, the forms to mark the second person imperatives in Western Oromo show similarities with the forms used in the Oromoid and Omo-Tana groups of the Lowland East Cushitic languages. But the forms used to mark the third person do not show much resemblances. While Oromo exclusively uses a prefix to mark the affirmative third person imperative, the other related languages employ suffixes (cf. Banti 2004; Ongaye 2020: 20).

4.3 Grammatical morphemes (in)compatible with imperative verbs

4.3.1 Subject agreement markers

26Imperative verbs also differ from other verb forms in the grammatical morphemes they are (in)compatible with. For instance, the perfective and imperfective aspect markers and the sets of subject agreement markers used with the perfective and imperfective main and dependent verbs are not compatible with second person imperative verbs. Subject agreement is co-marked by the imperative morphemes themselves. However, the third person imperative verbs share the agreement suffixes with the perfective and imperfective verbs, as shown in Table 3 for the verb déem- ‘go’ (cf. morphemes in bold). This is because haa- does not indicate the number and gender of the subjects.

Table 3 — Agreement markers on perfective, imperfective and imperative verbs

pf ipf 2imp 3imp
1sg déem-Ø-e déem-Ø-a - -
2sg déem-t-e déem-t-a déem-i -
3sg.m déem-Ø-e déem-Ø-a - haa-déem-Ø-u
3sg.f déem-t-e déem-t-i - haa-déem-t-u
1pl déem-n-e déem-n-a - -
2pl déem-t-an-(i) déem-t-u déem-áa -
3pl déem-an(-i/u) déem-u - haa-déem-án(-i/u)
  • 6 The occurrence of the affirmative main clause marker hín- with the perfective and imperfective ve (...)

27Another grammatical morpheme that is compatible with the perfective (23) and imperfective (24), but not with the second person (25) and third person (26) imperative verbs, is the high-toned affirmative main clause marker hín-.6 Consider the following examples.

(23) Abdiin hindeeme.
abdíi-n hín-déem-e
Abdi-nom aclm-go-pf
‘Abdi went.’ [Elicited]
(24) Abdiin hindeema.
abdíi-n hín-déem-a
Abdi-nom aclm-go-ipf
‘Abdi goes/will go.’ [Elicited]
(25) *Ati hindeemi.
ati hín-déem-i
2sg.sbj aclm-go-2sg.imp
Intended meaning: ‘Go (2sg)ǃ’
(26) *Abdiin hinhaadeemu.
abdíi-n hín-háa-deem-u
Abdi-NOM aclm-3imp-go-ipf
Intended meaning: ‘Let Abdi go.’

28The grammatical morphemes in the following sections occur frequently with imperative verbs.

4.3.2 The anterior converb marker

  • 7 The function of -naan is not limited to anterior converb marking. It also serves as a conditional (...)

29The anterior converb is a dependent verb that expresses an event before the event expressed by the main verb (Sheyanova 2019: 238). While the anterior converb marker on both the second person and third person imperative verbs is ‑(V)Vtii in Western Oromo, it is -naan with perfective verb forms (Banti & Shimelis 2023: 269).7 Its function is to indicate that an action is completed prior to the event expressed by a subsequent dependent or main verb. General converbs, which are expressed by lengthening the aspect-marking vowels, differ from these anterior converbs in that the former do not strictly impose a temporal sequence in which the actions are completed. In other words, the action described by the ‑(V)Vtii -final converb necessarily precedes the action expressed by the following (imperative) verb (Dabala & Meyer 2003: 187). The following examples demonstrate the compatibility of the anterior converb marker ‑(V)Vtii with the affirmative second person (27), the affirmative third person (28), the negative second person (29), and the negative third person (30) imperative verbs.

(27) Ati yoo guutuu ta’uu barbaadde dhaqii waan qabdu hunda gurguriitii hiyyeeyyiif kenni.
ati jóo gúut-úu táʔ-úu bárbáad-t-Ø-e ɗák’-ii
2sg.sbj if fill-adjr become-vn want-2-sg-pf go-2sg.imp.cvb
wáan k’áb-t-Ø-u húndá gúrgúr-i-itii hijj-eejjíi-f
thing hold-2-sg-ipf all sell-2sg.imp-acvb poor-pl-dat
kenn-i
give-2sg.imp
‘If you want to become absolute (lit. full) (Christian), go and sell whatever you have, and then give it to the poor!” [S & R 2016: 685612]
(28) Inni komee isaa nutti haahimatuutii ati cal jedhi.
ínní kómée ísá-a nú-ttí haa-hím-át-u-utii
3sg.m.sbj complaint 3sg.m.obj-poss 1pl-loc 3imp-tell-mid-ipf-acvb
ati tʃ’ál jéɗ-i
2sg.sbj be_quiet.ideo say-2sg.imp
‘Let him tell us his complaint (first) and you keep quiet!’ [Elicited]
(29) Hintaa’inaatii hojii hojjedhaa.
hin-taaʔ-ín-áa-tii hodʒ-íi hóddʒ-át-ɗáa
neg-sit-neg-2pl.imp-acvb work-nmlz work-mid-2pl.imp
‘Do not be idle (lit. do not sit, i.e., stand up) and then do something!’ [Elicited]
(30) Isheen hindhufiniitii mana haa’eegdu.
iʃée-n hin-ɗuf-ín-íitii máná háa-ʔeeg-t-u
3sg.f-nom neg-come-neg-acvb house 3imp-monitor-f-ipf
‘Let her stay at home (lit. let her avoid coming) and monitor the home area.’ [Elicited]

30As can be understood from the translations in the above examples, actions expressed by the verbs to which ‑(i)itii is attached are actions performed before the actions expressed by the clause-final verbs. In some earlier grammatical descriptions of Western Oromo, the morpheme ‑(V)Vtii is analyzed as a contrastive focus marker attached to imperative converbs to show a sequence of actions (Dabala & Meyer 2003: 182; Eshetu 2021: 42). But since the function of the morpheme is to show a strict temporal sequence of actions and not simply an emphasis on an action, I consider it to be an anterior converb marker used with imperative verbs.

4.3.3 The third person object markers

  • 8 The third person direct and indirect object markers are also compatible with perfective and imperf (...)

31Verbs in Western Oromo show agreement with their subjects (Owens 1985: 222; Banti & Shimelis 2023: 267). Generally, objects are not marked on verbs. However, there are some exceptions in which verbs systematically agree with their direct and indirect objects in the third person. The direct and indirect object markers in the third person are -Vn and -Vf with verbs ending in a short vowel, and -nii and -fii with verbs ending in a long vowel. As can be seen from the following examples, the suffixes are able to combine with second person (31-34) and third person (35-36) affirmative imperative verbs.8 Their occurrence is obligatory when an accusative case-marked direct object or a dative case-marked beneficiary object is omitted, and mostly optional when the objects are present. The direct and indirect object markers on the verb are identical to the accusative and dative case markers on noun phrases (cf. (34) and (38)). The indirect object marker usually occurs with the quotative verb dʒeɗ- ‘say’, as in (31) & (35).

(31) “Afaankee narraa qabiǃ jedhiin.
afáan-kée ná-rrá-a qab-i dʒɗ-í-in
mouth-2sg.poss 1sg.obj-on-abl hold-2imp say-2imp-3do
‘Tell her/him to shut her/his mouth (not to speak to you) (lit. hold your mouth from me)!’ [S & R 2016: 2539182]
(32) Rafuusaa dura yeroo hunda seenaa tokko dubbisiif.
ráf-úu-sá-a dúrá jeróo húndá seenáa tókko
sleep‑vn‑3sg.m.obj-poss before time all story one
dúbbís-í-if
read‑2imp‑3ido
Always read one story to him before he sleeps!’ [S & R 2016: 887901]
(33) Gonkuma koolugaltummaan nutti hintolu jedhaanii.
gónk-úma koolu-gal-t-úmmáa-n nú-ttí̥ hin-tol-Ø-u
never-foc defect-enter-f-nmlz-nom 1pl-loc neg-comfort-3sg.m-ipf
dʒɗ-áa-níi
say-2pl.imp-3do
‘Tell (lit. say) her/him/them that we are never comforted by emigration.’ [S & R 2016: 208383]
(34) Kanaaf ijoollee keessaniif mirga kennaafii.
kana-af idʒoollée kéessán-íif mirga kénn-áa-fíi
this.obj-dat children 2pl.poss-dat right give-2pl.imp-3io
‘For this (reason), give right to your children.’ [S & R 2016: 2303886]
(35) Gurbichi (intalattiidhaan) natti heerumi haajedhuun.
gurb-íttʃ-í intala-ttíi-ɗa-an ná-ttí héerúm-i
boy-sgv.m-nom girl-sgv.f-lnk-acc 1sg.obj-loc marry_a_woman-2sg.imp
haa-dʒɗ-ú-un
3imp-say-ipf-3do
‘Let the boy tell the girl, “Marry me (lit. to me)”.’ [Elicited]
(36) Warra kaaniif yeroodhaan nyaata isaan ga’u haakennuuf.
wárra káan-iif jeróo-ɗa-an ɲáatá ísáan
family other-dat time-lnk-inst food 3pl
gáʔ-u haa-kénn-ú-uf
reach-ipf 3imp-give-ipf-3io
‘Let him give other people (lit. family) enough food (lit. food that reaches them).’ [S & R 2016: 4345069]

32Owens (1985: 119) describes the third person direct and indirect object markers as “instrumental and dative verbal case markers”. This is probably because the suffixes are identical with the case markers on noun phrases, as mentioned earlier. However, it appears challenging to treat them as “verbal case markers” because case is generally not assumed to be a verbal grammatical category. Furthermore, case markers can in fact be attached to relative verbs, just as they attach to other nominal modifiers. But note that all verbs in the above examples are main verbs. Owens (1985: 119) also analyzes the suffix -ni in Harar Oromo (which has the same function as ‑(V)n(i) in the western dialect of Oromo) as an instrumental case marker, irrespective of whether it is attached to nouns or verbs. This analysis is probably proposed because the instrumental is marked by a similar morpheme, ‑Vn(i). However, the suffix that is attached to nouns or pronouns in constructions such as (37-38) is better analyzed as an accusative case marker because the grammatical function of nouns (37) or pronouns (38) marked by ‑Vn(i) is that of a direct object.

(37) ... namichaan, “Kaʼiitii siree kee fudhadhuu mana keetti gali! jedheen.
nam-íchá-an káʔ-i-itii sírée kee fuɗ-át-ɗúu máná
man-sgv.m-acc stand-2sg.imp-acvb bed 2sg take-mid-2imp house
kée-ttí gál-i dʒéɗ-é-en
2sg-loc enter-2sg.imp say-pf-3do
‘He told the man, … “Stand up and take your bed and go (lit. enter) homeǃ”’ [S & R 2016: 2963205]
(38) Ibsaa dhaamsiitii rafi siin jechuu kooti
íf-s-áa ɗáam-s-i-itii raf-i si-in
light-caus-nmlz.m put_out-caus-2sg.imp-acvb sleep-2sg.imp 2sg.obj-acc
dʒéɗ-úu kóo-ti
say-vn 1sg.poss-cop
‘What I am saying to you is, “Put out the light and then sleep!”’ [S & R 2016: 2057007]

33The morphemes attached to the verbs in (31-36) are best considered third person object markers, since their function is to refer to direct and indirect (incl. beneficiary) objects. They can only refer to third person participants, mostly when the overt objects noun phrases are omitted as a result of shared knowledge between the speaker and the hearer.

4.3.4 The first person singular pronominal enclitic

34As mentioned earlier, the subject of a clause is marked by different sets of agreement suffixes on the main and dependent verbs (Gragg 1976: 188). However, there is an exception to this general rule in which the first person subject is marked by a pronominal enclitic =(a)n ‘I’ on one of the constituents preceding the verb, as seen in (39-43).

(39) Sangaan bite.
sangáa=n bít-e
ox=1sg.sbj buy-pf
‘I bought an ox.’ [Elicited]
(40) Intalaafan sangaa bite.
intálá-af=án sángáa bít-e
girl-dat=1sg.sbj ox buy-pf
‘I bought the girl an ox.’ [Elicited]
(41) Qarshii kuma sagaliinan intalaaf sangaa bite.
k’árʃíi kúmá ságál-íin=án intálá-af sangáa bít-e
money thousand nine-inst=1sg.sbj girl-dat ox buy-pf
‘I bought the girl an ox for (lit. with) nine thousand Birr (Ethiopian currency).’ [Elicited]
(42) Kaleessan qarshii kuma sagaliin intalaaf sangaa bite.
kaléessá=n k’árʃíi kúmá ságál-íin intálá-af sangáa
yesterday=1sg.sbj money thousand nine-inst girl-dat ox
bít-e
buy-pf
‘Yesterday I bought the girl an ox for (lit. with) nine thousand Birr.’ [Elicited]
(43) Gabaa dhaqeen qarshii kuma sagaliin intalaaf sangaa bite.
gabaa ɗák-ée=n k’árʃíi kúmá ságál-íin intálá-af
market go-pf.cvb=1sg.sbj money nine thousand-inst girl-dat
sangáa bít-e
ox buy-pf
‘I went to the market and bought the girl an ox for (lit. with) nine thousand Birr.’ [Elicited]

35The above examples reveal that the first person singular subject marker is encliticized to the direct object in (39), to the indirect object in (40), to the instrumental adjunct in (41), to the adverb in (42), and to the converb clause in (43). The pronominal clitic has the tendency to be hosted by the leftmost constituent in the verb phrase. The cliticization of the first person singular pronoun to different constituents before the verb is a strategy used to disambiguate between first person singular and third person singular subjects. Consider the following examples.

(44) Sangaan bite.
sangáa=n bít-e
ox=1sg buy-pf
‘I bought an ox.’ [Elicited]
(45) Sangaa binne.
sangáa bít-n-e
ox buy-1pl-pf
‘We bought an ox.’ [Elicited]
(46) Sangaa bite.
sangáa bít-Ø-e
ox buy-3sg.m-pf
‘He bought an ox.’ [Elicited]

36In (44), the first person singular subject marker =n is attached to the object. The first person plural subject is marked by -n on the verb in (45). The third person singular masculine is expressed by a zero morpheme in (46). If the first person subject clitic is removed from the object noun in (43), it creates ambiguity between first and third person singular subjects because these persons are not marked on the verb. If -n were attached to the verb in the first person singular, it would create ambiguity between first person singular and first person plural subjects. Therefore, the first person singular clitic is systematically attached to constituents other than the verb to avoid such ambiguities.

37The first person singular clitic can also be attached to second (47-48) and third person (49-50) imperative verbs as the final verbs of reported speech complements.

(47) Kottun siin jedhe.
kótt-ú=n sí-in dʒeɗ-e
come-2sg.imp=1sg.sbj 2sg.obj-acc say-pf
‘I said to you, “Come!”’ [Elicited]
(48) Hinsodaatinaan isiniin jedhe.
hin-sod-aat-ín-áa=n ísín-íin dʒeɗ-e
neg-fear-inch-neg-2pl.imp=1sg.sbj 2pl-acc say-pf
‘I said to you (pl), “Don’t be frightened!”’ [Elicited]
(49) Waqayyo siif haakennun jedhe.
waak’ájjó sí-if haa-kénn-ú=n dʒéɗ-e
God 2sg.obj-dat 3imp-give-ipf=1sg.sbj say-pf
‘I said to you, “May God bless you with something (lit. may God give you)!”’ [Elicited]
(50) Hamaan si hinargatinan jedhe.
hám-áa-n sí hin-arg-at-ín=án dʒéɗ-e
troublesome-m-nom 2sg.obj neg-see-mid=1sg.sbj say-pf
‘I said to you, ‘May you not come across difficult situations (lit. may troublesome (things) not see you)!’ [Elicited]

5. The functions of imperatives

38Imperatives are often taken to be commands imposing obligations on the addressee(s) by virtue of linguistic conventions (Condoravdi & Lauer 2012: 37). The prototypical function of imperatives is to tell what the addressee(s) should or should not do. However, imperatives have a wide range of pragmatic functions that go beyond commands. They can also be used for directive speech acts such as requests, pleas, advice, good wishes, imprecations, recommendations, warnings, instructions, invitations, and permissions (Aikhenvald 2010: 198–199). In Western Oromo, second person and third person affirmative and negative imperative clauses can be used for directive speech acts such as commands, warnings, blessings, curses, farewell, requests, invitations, and suggestions. In the following subsections, I describe the uses of imperatives by classifying them into two groups. The criterion for the classification of the directive speech acts is their (in)compatibility with command-softening interjections such as maaloo ‘please’, mee ‘I suggest’ and the suffix ‑kaa, as a marker of a neutral stance.

5.1 Directive speech acts incompatible with command-softening interjections

5.1.1 Commands and warnings

39A command is an expression that is intended to make someone do something or refrain from doing something (Condoravdi & Lauer 2012: 38). It can be directed to first, second, or third person participants. Commands addressed to the second person are referred to as direct commands. Those that are addressed to the first and third persons are generally referred to as indirect commands. In Western Oromo, a command can be directed only to second and third person subjects. A command addressed to the second person is expressed by second person imperative verbs both in the affirmative (51) and negative (52) paradigms. The negative imperative is traditionally referred to as “prohibitive”. An indirect command addressed to the third person is expressed by a third person imperative verb form in the affirmative paradigm (53) and by an invariable verb form in the negative paradigm (54). Such utterances are often accompanied by an imperious voice. Whether the expressions are commands can also be understood in the communicative context.

(51) Ana irraa fagaadhaa, sokkaa!
ana írrá-a fag-áat-ɗáa sókk-áa
1sg.obj on-abl far-inch-2pl.imp go-2pl.imp
‘Be far from me, go (away)ǃ’ [S & R 2016, 3310295, 3310298]
(52) Kanaafuu hinrafnuu hinrafinaa!
kana-af-úu hin-ráf-n-uu hin-raf-ín-áa
this.obj-dat-foc neg-sleep‑1pl-ipf.cvb neg-sleep-neg-2pl.imp
‘And for this reason, we don’t sleep, and you (too) do not sleep!’ [S & R 2016, 1479225]
(53) Wanta gaarii ta’e haahojjetani.
wántá gaaríi táʔ-e haa-hóddʒ-át-án-i
thing good become-pf 3imp-work-vblz-pl-ipf
‘Let them do something goodǃ’ [S & R 2016, 1098488]
(54) Isaan bor ganama natti hindhufinǃ
isáan bor ganama na-tti hin-ɗuf-ín
3pl tomorrow morning 1sg.obj-loc neg-come-neg
‘Let them not come to me tomorrow morning!’ [Elicited]

40A warning in Western Oromo can typically be conveyed by utilizing the same expressions as in (51-54). The context shows whether the expression is a command or warning.

5.1.2 Blessings and curses

41Blessings and curses are expressions of good and bad wishes. They can be regarded as “performative utterances to the degree that people accept them as having effect” (Kreidler 1998: 186). In Western Oromo, blessings and curses appear typically in the form of imperatives: (55) and (56) are blessings expressed by affirmative second person and third person imperative constructions. (57) and (58) are curses expressed by affirmative second person and third person imperative constructions. Negative second and third person constructions are given in (59) and (60). While (59) is an expression of a blessing, (60) is an expression of a curse.

(55) Maanguddoonnis ... umurii dheeradhuǃ Akka abaaboo kanaa daraariǃ Guddadhuǃ Ofii muladhuǃ jedhanii eebbisan.
maangudd-óot-ní-s umúríi ɗeer-át-ɗ̥ ákká ábaabóo
elder-pl-nom-add age long-inch-2sg.imp sim flower
  káná-a dáráar-i gudd-at-ɗu ofi-i(f) mulʔ-at-ɗu
this.obj-poss bloom-2sg.imp big-inch-2sg.imp self-dat appear-mid-2sg.imp
  dʒeɗ-an-ii eebb-is-an
say-pl-pf.cnv bless-caus-pl
‘And the elders … blessed [a person] by saying, “Live long, bloom like this flower, grow up, be famous (lit. appear by yourself)”.’ [S & R 2016: 2018262, 2018267, 2018272]
(56) Jaalala hiriyaa siif haalaatuǃ Halagaan fira siif haata’uǃ Buddeen kee guddaa haatauǃ
dʒaalálá hírijáa sí-if haa-láat-u halagáa-n
love friend.poss 2sg.obj-dat 3imp-give-ipf stranger-nom
  fírá sí-if haa-táʔ-u buddéen kée gúdd-áa
relative 2sg.obj-dat 3imp-be-ipf food 2sg.poss big-m
  háa-taʔ-u
3imp-be-ipf
‘May (God) bestow upon you the love of friends; may a stranger turn out to be your relative; may your life flourish (lit. may your food become big)’. (Dirribee et al. 2012: 43)
(57) Boolla dhaqiǃ
bóollá ɗák-i
grave go-2sg.imp
‘May you die out (lit. go to the grave).’ [Elicited]
(58) Iji kee haajaamu!
ídʒ-í kée haa-jáam-u
eye-nom 2sg.poss 3imp-blind-ipf
‘May your eyes be blind.’ [Elicited]
(59) Hinrakkatinaaǃ horii of harkaa hindhabinaaǃ
hin-rakk-at-ín-áa horii of harka-a
neg-get_problem-mid-neg-2pl.imp money self hand-poss
hin-ɗab-ín-áa
neg-miss-neg-2pl.imp
‘May you never have problems; may wealth come into your hands (lit. do not miss money from your hands).’ [Elicited]
(60) Gowwaan hindhalatin; dhalatullee hinguddatin.
gowwáa-n hin-dhal-at-ín dhál-át-ú-llée
coward-nom neg- be_born-mid-neg be_born-mid-ipf-foc
hin-gudd-at-ín
neg-big-inch-neg-2sg.imp
‘May a coward not come into being (lit. not be born), if (by chance) s/he comes into being, may s/he die out (lit. not grow up).’ [S & R 2016: 124608, 124612]

42Similar to the situation with commands and warnings, differentiating between commands and blessings or curses cannot be done on the basis of the verb form, as imperatives serve both functions, but it is exclusively based on extralinguistic knowledge.

5.1.3 Farewells

43Farewells are only addressed to second person subjects and hence exclusively expressed by affirmative second person imperative verbs (61). Negative second person imperative verbs and affirmative or negative third person imperative verbs are excluded in this function. Furthermore, an imperative verb used for a farewell cannot be modified by a command-softening interjections, as in (62).

(61) Nagaan bulaaǃ
nagáa-n búl-áa
peace-inst pass_night-2pl.imp
‘Good night (lit. pass the night with peace).’ [Elicited]
(62) *Maaloo nagaan bulaaǃ
máaloo nagáa-n búl-áa
please peace-inst pass_night-2pl.imp
‘Please, good night (lit. please pass the night with peace).’

44For more information on expressions of farewell in Oromo see Baye (1997).

5.2 Directive speech acts compatible with command-softening interjections

5.2.1 Requests and invitations

45A request is a type of directive utterance in which the speaker wants the addressee to do or refrain from doing something. It differs from a command in that it does not assume the speaker to have control over the addressee (Kreidler 1998: 190). In Western Oromo, requests are expressed by second person affirmative (63) and negative (64) imperative verbs, just like commands. They are distinguished from commands by the use of command-softening interjections such as máaloo ‘please’ and the soft voice associated with the utterance.

(63) Yaa isa bara baraan jiraattuu maaloo cubbuu koo irraa na dhiqiǃ
jaa isa bara bárá-an dʒír-áat-t-ú-u
O 3sg.m.obj era era-inst exist-inch-2-ipf-voc
máaloo tʃ’ubbúu kóo na írrá-a ɗík-i
please sin 1sg.poss 1sg.obj on-abl wash-2sg.imp
‘O eternal (lit. he who lives from era to era), please wash my sin away from me.’ [S & R 2016: 4639584]
(64) Yaa gooftaa, maaloo cubbuu kana isaanitti hinlakkaa'inǃ
jaa gooftáa máaloo tʃ’ubbúu kána
O Lord please sin this.obj
isaan-íttí hin-lakk-aaʔ-ín
3pl-loc neg-count-inch-neg
‘O Lord, please do not count this sin on them.’ [S & R 2016: 4778694]

46An invitation is expressed by affirmative second person imperative verbs (65). Prohibitive constructions are not used for invitations. The use of non-second person imperative verbs for invitations is possible (66) but infrequent. Instead, a second person imperative verb is used in a reported speech form (67). Invitations can contain the interjection máaloo ‘please’ to show politeness.

(65) (Maaloo) kottaa buna dhugaa.
(máaloo) kótt-áa búná ɗúg-áa
(please) come-2pl.imp coffee drink-2pl.imp
‘(Please), come and drink coffee.’ [Elicited]
(66) (Maaloo) abbaan kee bor dhufanii farsoo haadhugani.
(máaloo) abbáa-n kée bor ɗuf-an-íi fársóo
please father-nom 2sg.poss tomorrow come-3pl-cvb ale
háa-ɗúg-án-i
3imp-drink-pl-ipf
‘(Please), let your father come and drink ale tomorrow.’ [Elicited]
(67) (Maaloo) abbaa keetiin bor “kottaa farsoo dhugaa” jedhiin.
(máaloo) abbáa kée-ti-in bor kótt-áa fársóo
please father 2sg.poss-lnk-acc tomorrow come-2pl.imp drink-2pl.imp
ɗúg-áa dʒɗ-í-in
ale say-2sg.imp-3io
‘(Please), say to your father, “Come and drink ale!”.’ [Elicited]

5.2.2 Suggestions

  • 9 In Konso, a Lowland East Cushitic language closely related to Oromo, mee is a particle used to exp (...)

47A suggestion is a type of utterance in which the speaker gives his/her opinion to the addressee as to what the addressee should or should not do (Kreidler 1998: 190). In Western Oromo, an invitation is expressed by an imperative verb combined with the command-softening interjection mée ‘I suggest’.9 Both second person and third person verbs in their affirmative (68-69) and negative forms (70) can be used for suggestions.

(68) Mee yaada kana gadi fageenyaan naaf ibsi.
mée jáadá kána gadi fag-éeɲɲá-an na-af
I_suggest idea this.obj down far-nmlz-inst 1sg.obj-dat
íf-s-i
light-caus-2sg.imp
‘I suggest that you explain (lit. enlighten) this idea in depth for me.’ [S & R 2016: 837642]
(69) Gurbichi mee bor haadhufu.
gurb-íttʃ-í mée bór haa-ɗúf-ú̥
boy-sgv.m-nom I_suggest tomorrow 3imp-come-ipf
‘I suggest that you let the boy come tomorrow.’ [Elicited]
(70) Mee bor hindeeminaa.
mée bór hin-deem-ín-áa
I_suggest tomorrow neg-go-neg-2pl.imp
‘I suggest that you don’t go tomorrow.’ [Elicited]

48Another command-softening interjection used to express the speaker’s neutral attitude towards a suggested action is the suffix ‑kaa, as seen in (71) and (72). The morpheme indicates that the speaker leaves the decision about the feasibility of the suggested action to the addressee. The speaker is not committed to the realization of the suggested action.

(71) Ati garuu mee waan naaf yaadde naaf hojjedhukaa.
ati gárúu mée wáan
2sg.sbj but I_suggest thing
ná-af jaad-t-e na-af hoddʒ-át-ɗú-kaa
1sg.obj-dat think-2-pf 1sg.obj-dat work-mid-2sg.imp-neut
‘But you, please do whatever you thought for me (i.e., the decision is yours).’ [S & R 2016: 4319032]
(72) Yoo sangaan bitadha jedhe haabitatukaa!
jóo sángáa=n bít-át-ɗá dʒeɗ-e haa-bít-át-ú-kaa
if ox=1sg.sbj buy-mid-ipf say-pf 3imp-buy-mid-ipf-neut
‘If he wants to buy (lit. if he says I will buy) an ox, let him buy (i.e., the decision is up to him).’ [Elicited]

6. Non-imperative command strategies

6.1 Negative interrogative and insubordinate clauses

49Western Oromo employs negative interrogative (73-74) and affirmative (75) or negative (76) insubordinate clauses for strict orders and warnings. Insubordinate clauses are conventionalized main clauses that appear formally as subordinate clauses (Evans 2007: 376). In Western Oromo, they are always subordinated by akka, a subordinating conjunction also used as a similative preposition elsewhere. Structurally, the insubordinate clauses are complements of verbs like si-in jeɗ-é-era (2sg.obj-acc say-pf-aux) ‘I/he said to you’, which are not explicitly mentioned but understood from the context.

(73) Namicho asii hindeemtuu?
nám-íttʃ-o asi-i hin-déem-t-Ø-ú-u
man-sgv.m-voc here-abl neg-go-2-sg-ipf-q
‘Hey man, go away from here! (lit. don’t you go from here?)’ [Elicited]
(74) Utuun isinii hindhufin hinbaddanii?
utúu=n isín-íi(f) hin-ɗuf-ín hin-bád-t-án-í-i
before=1sg.sbj 2pl-dat neg-come-neg neg-disapear-2-pl-ipf-q
‘Disappear before I come (lit. don’t you disappear before I come for you?)’ [Elicited]
(75) Qarshíi koo bor ganama akka naaf fiddu.
k’árʃíi kóo bor ganáma ákká ná-af fid-t-Ø-u
money 1sg.poss tomorrow morning sim 1sg.obj-dat bring-2‑sg‑ipf
‘Bring my money tomorrow morning (lit. that you bring my money tomorrow morning).’ [Elicited]
(76) Isin gonkuma seera akka hincabsine.
isin gónk-úma séerá ákká hin-tʃáb-s-ín-e
2pl never-foc law sim neg-break-caus-neg-pf
‘Never violate rules (lit. that you didn’t break the law).’ [Elicited]

50Directive speech acts expressed by these constructions differ from those expressed by imperative verb forms in that they compel the addressee to do something or to refrain from doing something. While imperatives communicate simple orders, negative interrogative and insubordinate clauses are perceived as entailing a threat of punishment or other negative consequences. Negative interrogative clauses have an imperious tone of voice when they are used for warnings. Using negative interrogative clauses for warnings is a common phenomenon in Cushitic languages such as Konso (Ongaye 2020: 414) and Omotic languages such as Maale (Azeb 2001). For one Cushitic language, Kambaata, a dedicated, so-called “apprehensive” verb paradigm for warnings and threats has been reported (Treis forthcoming). Such forms are not attested in Western Oromo.

6.2 Animal-directed interjections

  • 10 Ameka (1992: 113) makes a distinction between expressive interjections that primarily communicate (...)

51In Western Oromo, commands addressed to pets, domestic animals, and birds are expressed by a subtype of interjections referred to as “conative”.10 Conative interjections are often defined as terms that are either used to grab the listener’s attention or aimed at compelling the addressee to act or respond in a way that the speaker desires (Ameka 1992: 113). In terms of origin, interjections can be categorized as “primary” – i.e. terms which cannot be used in any other way – or “secondary” – i.e. terms that belong to other word classes but can also be used non-elliptically as one-word utterances (Ameka 1992: 113). Semantically, animal-directed conative interjections aim at making animals move, calm down, or not move. According to Andrason & Akumbu (2024: 6), these can be further categorized into dispersals (used to chase animals away), directionals (used to modify the movement of animals in terms of inception, termination, direction, speed, and manner), and summonses (used to call animals). For animal commands, both primary (P) and secondary (S) conative interjections with dispersal, directional, and summoning functions are attested in Western Oromo. The first thorough study of formal (phonetic and morphological) and functional (pragmato-semantic) aspects of conative animal calls in Macha (Western) Oromo was conducted by Andrason et al. (2024). The following sections add to the existing body of knowledge by describing the tonal patterns and the origins of both previously documented and newly discovered interjections. It also refines or revises the description of some forms. Since a significant portion of animal-directed interjections function as both dispersals and directionals, these two semantic types are discussed together in §6.2.1. Section 6.2.2 provides a description of summonses.

6.2.1 Dispersal and directional interjections

52Dispersals and directionals, which are used to chase, initiate, sustain, and accelerate motion or which alter movement directions, have extra-high (v̋) tones paired with short vowels. Interjections used for stopping and calming down working animals use extra low (v̏) tones associated with long or extra-long vowels. Extra-long vowels and extra-high and extra-low tones are employed with interjections but are not a part of the language’s regular phonology (see Andrason et al. 2024 for a detailed discussion of other phonetic and morphological features of Western Oromo interjections). The inventory of dispersal and directional interjections is provided in Table 4. Forms linked by “~” are alternative expressions. Interjections marked with a superscript (n) have the property of being replicated indefinitely. Interjections without the superscript (n) are not repeated. Consonants represented by more than two symbols (particularly [rrr]) have durative quality, meaning they can be uttered for an extended period of time. Whistles of different pitches can also be used to chase, accelerate or stop animals (see also Andrason et al. 2024). Interjections denoted by “(NI)” have been newly identified. The remaining ones are already provided in Andrason et al. (2024).

Table 4 — Dispersal and directional interjections

  • 11 According to Andrason et al. (2024: 7), horses are also the target of this interjection. In the di (...)
  • 12 In Andrason et al. (2024: 4), this interjection is described as ending in the bilabial plosive [p] (...)
Animal Qubee orthography IPA Function Function
Calf emme [ʔe̋mme̋ʔ] P chase away
Cat bis [bi̋s] P chase away
Cattle ha [ha̋] P start, sustain movement
haa [hȁa] (n) P calm down, stop movement
Chicken kut [kűt] P chase away
Donkey che [tʃe̋]11 P start, sustain movement
oosh [ʔȍooʃʃʃ] P calm down, stop movement
Dog bayi (NI) [ba̋j] S chase away
ushut [ʔuʃűt] P incite to attack
qab(i) [k’a̋b(i)] S incite to attack
arraa (NI) [ʔarra̋a] (n) P encourage to sustain chasing a prey
Goat and sheep ush ~ kis ~ kale ~ chu [ʔűʃ] ~ [ki̋s] ~ [ka̋le̋ʔ] ~ [tʃű] P chase away
kiph ~ kiphiddar (NI) [ki̋ɓ] ~ [ki̋p’i̋ddárrr] S initiate to fight
Horse toph [tőɓ]12 P start, sustain, accelerate movement (gallop)
mox (NI) [mőt’] P start, sustain movement
teesh [tȅeeʃʃʃ] P calm down, stop movement
Mule mac [ma̋tʃ’] P start and sustain movement
teesh [tȅeeʃʃʃ] P calm down, stop movement
Oxen ooha ~ oofa [ʔȍohá] ~ [ʔȍofá] S calm down, stop movement
giph (NI) [gi̋ɓ] P move back off a little (to pull out a ploughshare stuck in a plant root or rock)
bo’ [bőʔ] S move straight forward (to create the first furrow)
ya’ (NI) [ja̋ʔ] S move diagonally (to create a ditch in a farm)
moxob (NI) [mőt’őb] S move along the furrows’ ends (to plough the border area)
kot (NI) [kőt] S turn around
ol [ʔől] S move up (to keep the furrow straight)
gad [ga̋d] S move down (to keep the furrow straight)
hirr (NI) [hírrr] (n) P incite to fight or to mate
rising whistle (short) [↗] start, accelerate movement
falling whistle [ˉ↘] stop movement
Oxpecker cirr [tʃ’i̋rrr] S chase away
Pigs and porcupine rising whistle (long) (NI) [᎗↗] chase away

53When it comes to their origin, the majority of the interjections in Table 4 are primary. Those which are secondary are derived from imperative verbs, adverbs and nouns. Table 5 presents a list of these interjections along with their equivalents from other word classes.

Table 5 — Origins of secondary interjections

  • 13 The dispersal interjection [tʃ’i̋rrr] is taken to be applied to the entire class of birds in Andra (...)
  • 14 This verb is one of the imperative-only verbs discussed in §4.1.
Interjection (IPA) Equivalent term (IPA) Meaning Category
[ba̋ji] [baj(ʔ)-] go out verb
[ki̋ɓ]~[ki̋phi̋ddárrrr] [kípp’ée] goat or sheep battle noun
[ooha̋]~[oofa̋] [ʔóof-] drive animal, car etc. verb
[tʃ’i̋rrr]13 [tʃ’írríi] oxpecker noun
[bőʔ] [boʔóo] furrow noun
[ja̋ʔ] [jáaʔa] ditch in a farm noun
[mőt’őb] [mot’obíi] edge of a farm noun
[ʔől] [ʔól] up adverb
[ga̋d] [gád(i)] down adverb
[k’a̋b] [k’áb-] catch verb
[kőt] [kótt-] come verb14

6.2.2 Summonses

54The group of summonses are tonally different from dispersals and directionals because they do not use extra-high or extra-low tones. The tones they bear are mostly those which are used in the regular phonology of the language. However, there are a few exceptions, such as the calls for goats, sheep, and calves, in which falling tones are utilized to summon the animals from a distance. Calves, goats, and sheep close to the speaker are summoned by the forms on which tones do not fall but whose syllables bear only low tones. The variant used to summon dogs from a distance has a high tone on the last syllable rather than a falling tone. It is also important to note that when falling tones are utilized, any previously short vowel becomes longer and any consonant-final interjection acquires a long vowel.

Table 6 — Summoning interjections

Animal Qubee orthography IPA Origin Origin
Calf eem ~ emmee [ʔeem] (n) ~ [ʔémmêe] (n) P call
Cat adurr (NI) ~ urr [adúrrr] ~ [úrrr] S call
Cattle darr [darrr] P call
level-pitched repeated whistle (NI) − (n) call (for grazing)
loyeekaa loyee [lójée-kaaꜜlójée] S induce to go home (in the evening)
obee lagoo [ʔóbée-lágoo] S induce to go to the river to drink water (at noon)
Chickens kul [kúl] (n) P call
Dog ǃʷ [ǃʷ] (n) P call
buchi ~ buchíi [buttʃi] (n) ~ [buttʃíi] (n) S call
Donkey kur [kúrr] (n) P call
Goat kale ~ kalee [kale] (n) ~ [kálêe] (n) P call
Sheep bido ~ bidoo [bidoo] (n) ~ [bídôo] (n) P call

55Similar to dispersals and directionals, most summonses are primary interjections; a few words are, however, secondary since they synchronically have nominal or verbal equivalents. This concerns the two simple interjections for calling cats [adúrrr] ~ [úrrr] and dogs [buttʃi] ~[buttʃíi], as well as the two complex interjections [lójée-kaaꜜlójée] (used to induce cattle to return home in the evening) and [óbée-lágoo] (used to persuade cattle to go to the river to drink water at noon) (similar forms are also reported by Andrason et al. 2024). The simple interjections [adúrrr] ~ [úrrr] and [buttʃi] ~[buttʃíi] have the nominal counterparts adúrrée ‘cat’ and buttʃíi ‘dog’, respectively. The complex interjections are composed of parts from different word classes. The interjection [lójée-kaaꜜlójée] is made up of the imperative verb loj-i (walk_slowly-2sg.imp), the melody-maintaining element ‑jee, and the neutral stance marker -kaa ‘I suggest’ (see §5.2.2). Together they convey the meaning ‘I suggest you walk slowly (as you go home)’. The interjection [ʔóbée-lágoo] is composed of a modified form of the verbs obaase ‘cause to drink’ and a modified form of the noun laga ‘river, stream’. When taken as a whole, they convey something like ‘it is time to go to the river and drink some water’. The two complex interjections are distinct from all the others because they are refrains of poems. They are always accompanied by several verses that are meant to encourage the herd. These poems are sung by young shepherds (children).

7. Conclusion

56This paper has provided the first detailed description of forms and functions of imperatives and alternative command strategies in Western Oromo. Both second person and third person imperatives are morphologically marked, but they form different inflectional paradigms because the former is expressed by suffixes and the latter by a prefix. Second person imperatives are the simplest of all verb forms in the language. They are incompatible with aspectual morphemes unlike the third person imperative verb forms. Grammatical morphemes compatible with both second person and third person imperatives include the anterior converb marker, the third person subject and object markers, and the first person singular pronominal subject enclitic.

57The primary function of second person and third person imperatives is to give direct and indirect commands, respectively. In addition to commands, both second person and third person imperatives can also be used for directive speech acts such as warnings, blessings, curses, and invitations. Some speech acts like farewells only occur with second person imperative verb forms. With command-softening interjections, second person and third person imperative verbs can be used for requests, invitations, and suggestions.

58In Western Oromo, strict commands and warnings are given by non-imperative verb forms such as negative interrogative and insubordinate clauses. Primary and secondary conative interjections that fall into one of three semantic categories— dispersals, directionals, or summonses—are used to communicate commands intended for domesticate animals. These mostly make use of tonal patterns that are not common in other word classes.

59The paper has shown that Western Oromo resembles the Oromoid and Omo-Taana groups of the Low Land East Cushitic branch in the forms it uses for the second person imperatives. In contrast, the third person imperatives are different across these languages. In terms of the functions of imperatives, Western Oromo shows considerable similarities with Konso, a Lowland East Cushitic language belonging to the Oromoid group.

Acknowledgements

60The idea of working on the imperatives of the western dialect of Oromo was conceived during my research stay at LLACAN (Langage, langues et cultures d’Afrique), Villejuif, from October to December 2021, during one of our discussion sessions with Yvonne Treis and Ronny Meyer. Therefore, I would like to express my gratitude to both for bringing the idea to my attention. Yvonne Treis provided insightful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Additionally, Feda Negesse deserves my appreciation for our conversation about the interjections used for animal-directed commands. I am also indebted to the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research) for sponsoring my research stay in the programme “Soutien à la mobilité international entrante” (SMI 2021). My special thanks go to the editors of LLA (Linguistique et Langues Africaines) and to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on the earlier version of this paper.

Abbreviations

1 first person
2 second person
3 third person
abl ablative
acc accusative
aclm affirmative clause marker
acvb anterior converb
add additive
adjr adjectivizer
C consonant
caus causative
cvb converb
cond conditional
dat dative
do direct object
f feminine
foc focus
ideo ideophone
imp imperative
inch inchoative
inst instrumental
io indirect object
ipf imperfective
lnk linker
loc locative
m masculine
mid middle
neg negative
neut neutral
nmlz nominalizer
nom nominative
obj object
pass passive
pf perfective
pl plural
poss possessive
prox proximal
q question
recp reciprocal
sbj subject
sg singular
sgv singulative
sim similative
v vowel
vblz verbalizer
vn verbal noun
voc vocative
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Notes

1 In contrast, in Boraana Oromo, the regular second person imperative marker -i is also used with imperative-only verbs (Stroomer 1995: 79).

2 *Caat- verb roots in Oromo like baat- ‘carry’, kaat- ‘run’, and ɲaat- ‘eat’ seem to have been formed from CV-roots and a frozen middle morpheme -at. This assumption is based on the fact that the synchronic language has a nominal counterpart ba’aa ‘load’ for the verb baat- ‘carry, bear for oneself’. ba’aa could be morphologically analyzed as ba-aa (bear-nmlz) ‘load’, the glottal stop inserted between the vowels being epenthetic to break up an illicit sequence of three vowels. Further investigation is needed to corroborate this hypothesis.

3 Owens (1985: 63) states that, in Harar Oromo, the benefactive middle -at (labelled “subject-reflexive”) has the form -aɗɗ in the first person singular perfective and imperfective and the second person singular imperative. In the analysis presented here, however, I consider the benefactive middle to be consistently -at and the to be part of the imperative marker, i.e., -ɗu. The geminate -ɗɗ is a result of assimilation, i.e., ‑at-ɗu > -aɗ-ɗu.

4 In Oromo, the lengthening of the perfective aspect marker -e to -ee has the same clause-coordinating function in declarative sentences.

5 The use of the third person imperative marker haa- as a marker of the hortative is not common in the western dialect of Oromo. Instead, verbs in the imperfective form such as ní-án[nán]=déem-a (aclm-1sg.sbj=go-ipf) ‘I (will) go’ and hín-déem-n-a (aclm-go-pl-ipf) ‘we (will) go’ are used. However, as a result of the standardization process, which started in 1991, haa- is being introduced to mark the first person plural hortative (Dabala & Meyer 2003: 163).

6 The occurrence of the affirmative main clause marker hín- with the perfective and imperfective verbs is obligatory when the sentence consists of only a subject and a main verb, and optional when the verb phrase contains objects and adjuncts. According to Dabala & Meyer (2003: 166–170), its attachment to the main verb in the presence of objects and adjuncts has rather a pragmatic function and marks contrastive focus. But I consider it as an optional affirmative clause marking prefix since it contrasts with the low-toned negative clause-marking prefix hin-.

7 The function of -naan is not limited to anterior converb marking. It also serves as a conditional clause marker in the protasis of conditional constructions (Debela & Meyer 2006: 71), see (15).

8 The third person direct and indirect object markers are also compatible with perfective and imperfective verb forms.

9 In Konso, a Lowland East Cushitic language closely related to Oromo, mee is a particle used to express a threat (Ongaye 2020: 409).

10 Ameka (1992: 113) makes a distinction between expressive interjections that primarily communicate the speaker’s cognitive and emotive state, phatic interjections whose primary function is to establish and maintain communicative contact, and conative interjections which primarily invite an action or response from another party in the interaction.

11 According to Andrason et al. (2024: 7), horses are also the target of this interjection. In the dialect I speak, using it for a horse is not appropriate. The following well-known saying supports the claim: tʃ’absítúun farda ʔolláatiin “tʃe̋” dʒetti ‘Someone who enjoys undermining (everything) uses the term tʃe̋ to chase away a neighbor’s horse’.

12 In Andrason et al. (2024: 4), this interjection is described as ending in the bilabial plosive [p]. However, upon verification with several native speakers, I discovered that the consonant is, in fact, a bilabial implosive [ɓ]. It is an allophone of the bilabial ejective /p’/ occurring in word-final position. For instance, the word [kipp’ee] ‘goat or sheep fight’ is realized as [ki̋ɓ] when it is used as an interjection.

13 The dispersal interjection [tʃ’i̋rrr] is taken to be applied to the entire class of birds in Andrason et al. (2024: 4). However, its sole purpose is to chase away the red-billed oxpeckers ([tʃ’írríi] in Western Oromo), which pick maggots, flies, and ticks out of the pelage of their hosts. Because they also feed on the blood from the wounds of the animals (mostly cattle) and thus hinder the healing process or sometimes even cause new wounds, herders chase them away.

14 This verb is one of the imperative-only verbs discussed in §4.1.

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Girma Mengistu Desta, « Imperatives and non-imperative command strategies in Western Oromo »Linguistique et langues africaines [En ligne], 10(1) | 2024, mis en ligne le 30 juin 2024, consulté le 07 mars 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/lla/13395 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/123py

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Girma Mengistu Desta

Addis Ababa University

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