Re: THEORY: third-person imperatives

Scripsit Thorinn:

> Formally, that's a second-person imperative. The verb 'let' in this
> use may have been bleached to give a meaning similar to a third-person
> subjunctive, but that is still a matter of lexicon, not of syntax.
I think the matter is arguable: when does such a bleaching leave
the particle entirely grammaticalized?  My current Sprachgefuehl
is that all sense of "let" = "permit" is gone from this construction.

--
John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
        You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
        You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
                Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)