Votian/Imperative

== Votian Imperative ==

Morphemes

 * The first person of singular has only analytic imperative both in Ingria and Estonia.
 * The first person of plural uses usually present tense instead of imperative both in Ingria and Estonia.
 * Analytic expressions are also possible.
 * The morpheme -kama ocurres in Alutaguse runic songs  and is often written as -kamme or -gamme  e.g. laulagamme ('Let us sing!') , but the orthography of those texts is not reliable. So we can not be sure, how it was pronounced by native speakers.
 * The vowel a alternates with ä in Lüganuse (and Kodavere) according to vowel harmony rules e.g. jättäGä ('Leave (it)!').
 * See the previous lesson for the second person imperatives.
 * Morpheme -ko'ot of the third person of plural:
 * Pronunciation of Jõgõperä dialect
 * depends in consonant gradation of suffixes
 * -gōD after unstressed syllables of vowel stems e.g. tširjotte̮gōD ('Let them write!').
 * otherwise it is pronounced -kōD e.g. e̮лkōD ('Let them be!').
 * The vowel of this suffix remains always the same regardless to vowel harmony rules e.g. jättägōD ('Let them leave (it)!').
 * In all the other dialects it is not distinguishable from the singular suffix -ko'on.
 * Morpheme -ko'on of the third person of singular:
 * Pronunciation of Ingria
 * depends in consonant gradation of suffixes
 * -gō after unstressed syllables of vowel stems e.g. tširjottagō ('Let him write!').
 * otherwise it is pronounced -kō e.g. e̮лkō ('Let him be!').
 * The vowel of this suffix remains always the same regardless to vowel harmony rules  e.g. jättägō ('Let him leave (it)!').
 * Lüganuse dialect of Alutaguse
 * All the long vowels without primary stress have been shortened (influenced by Mid Estonian dialect) e.g. tehko ('Let him do!').
 * The counterpart of g is semi-voiced G e.g. anDaGo ('Let him give!').
 * G has finally replaced even k in voiced environment (influenced by Mid Estonian dialect) e.g. süöGo ('Let him eat!').

Morphophonology
In all dialects both in Ingria and Estonia:
 * Singular of the second person imperative never follows any consonant stem e.g. e̮лe̮G ~ e̮лe̮ ('Be!').
 * All the other imperative suffixes take a consonant stem if possible e.g. e̮лkōD ('Let them be!' in Jõgõperä dialect).


 * Singular of the second person imperative is always in a grade opposite to any other suffixal imperative form caused by consonant gradation in stems e.g.  jättägō ('Let him leave (it)!') vs. jätä ('Leave (it)!').

Phonological history

 * Singular of the 3. person's imperative -ko'on (< -*kohen < ? -*kaihen) is probably composed of imperative component -k + 3. person's singular hen.
 * 1) Vowels of the subsequent syllables have been assimilated -kohon.
 * 2) h was lost.
 * 3) o of subsequent syllables melt into ō.
 * 4) The final n melt into ō.
 * 5) Long vowels disappeared in the dialects of Estonia.
 * The final t of the third person of plural -ko'ot ( < ? -*kaihet) comes from plural nominative and has been preserved in some other Finnic dialects too e.g. in neighbouring Kudruküla dialect of  Vaivara kuolekot ('Let them die!').
 * Plural of the 1. person's imperative is probably composed of imperative component -k + plural 1. person's ma like it's counterpart of the second person.

=== Other Finnic dialects ===

The third person of singular
 * Standard Finnish : luke-koon ('Let him read!')
 * Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : luge-kkah ('Let him read!')
 * Vepsian dialects : luge-gaha ('Let him read!')
 * Ingrian dialects : luGe-Gā(n) ('Let him read!')
 * Standard Estonian : luge-gu ('Let him read!')
 * Livonian dialects : las lu ̉ggə̑-G ('Let him read!')

The third person of plural
 * Standard Finnish : luke-koot (~ luke-kaat in some dialects) ('Let them read!')
 * Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : luge-kkah ('Let them read!')
 * Vepsian dialects : luge-gaha ('Let them read!')
 * Ingrian dialects : luGe-Gasse(G)) ('Let them read!')
 * Standard Estonian : luge-gu ('Let them read!')
 * Livonian dialects : lu ̉ggə̑-gə̑D ('Let them read!')

The first person of plural
 * Standard Finnish : luke-kaamme ('Let us read!')
 * Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : paŋ-gama ('Let us put (something somewhere)!')
 * Vepsian dialects : luge-gam ('Let us read!')
 * Standard Estonian : luge-gem ('Let us read!')
 * Livonian dialects : las lu ̉ggə̑-gə̑D ('Let us read!')