Semantic Denotations of Imperative Structures in Novels

Abstract

This study examined the semantic denotations of imperative structures in English novels (i.e., “come, come,” he said, “you are flurried, Mr. Lockwood”). Previous studies in the field of imperative structures employed the data of advertisements and cooking recipes. However, this study contributes by using

English novels in order to investigate the imperative structure in conversation dialogues. The data collection of English novels in this study was gathered from three best-selling English novels, which are Wuthering Heights (Bronte, 2019), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Tolkein, 2020) and Dracula (Stoker, 2021) (www.amazon.com). Approximately 150,000 words are made up of 29 tokens of imperative structures. Regarding the data analysis, the semantic denotations of imperative structures in this study follow Stefanowitch (2003) whose framework is practical and well-classified. Concerning the data validation, three English instructors were asked to validate the data analysis to ensure its accuracy and reliability. The results show that the semantic denotations comply with Stefanowitch’s (2003) semantic denotations of instruction, invitation and request.  It is hoped that this study will be beneficial to learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) and learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) concerning the use of imperative structures in narrative writing.