2024-02-232024-02-2320211467-9582https://hdl.handle.net/11441/155500This paper discusses root phenomena in imperative clauses, assuming as diagnostics conversational dynamics and the type of discourse categories that are admitted in their C-domain, through a systematic comparative interface investigation in three languages (English, Italian and Spanish) based on an original experimental work. This novel perspective sheds new light on the syntax-semantics mapping and the interface (syntax-prosody) properties of imperative clauses, embedding the relevant proposal in a cartographic framework of analysis. Based on a twofold distinction of root phenomena – those which are widely allowed in Common Ground-active (Type I) contexts and those which can occur in non-Common Ground-active contexts (Type II) – it is proposed that imperatives are non-Common Ground-active propositions with no update potential, thus allowing only Type II root phenomena. Syntactically, imperative clauses are dominated by a super-ordinate Speech Act Phrase, including the Speaker and the Addressee as co-arguments, which explains the blocking effects identified in imperatives.application/pdfengAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://doi.org/10.1111/stul.12153