1 Bamberg, April 16, 2016 NINA DOBRUSHINA (NINA.DOBRUSHINA@GMAIL.COM) VARIATION OF PLURAL IMPERATIVE MARKING IN ARCHI 1. Introduction Imperative in Archi is expressed by a special verb stem. Imperative is used for urging (1), but it also can be used with 3 rd person subject with the meaning of blessing or cursing (2): (1) lobur, noʟ'-a-ši zaba child.PL house-IN-ALL come.IMP ‘Children, go home!’ (2) lobur χ: w a:ra-ši zaba child.PL be.glad-CVB come.IMP ‘May children come back joyfully!’ (lit. ‘Children joyful come back’) Therefore, Imperative can occur with 1st or 3rd person subjects. Blessing and cursing constructions can be distinguished from imperative constructions only pragmatically, based on the meaning of the verb and on broader context. Unlike quite a few other Daghestanian languages, the form of the Archi imperative does not depend on the transitivity of verb - except in the plural. Archi imperative can mark plural addressee with the suffix –r: (3) Kibrik 1977: 220 w-arha buwa-s χir 1-think.IMP mother-DAT about Think about your mother. (4) Kibrik 1977: 220 arha-r buwa-s χir PERSPL.think.IMP-IMP.PL mother-DAT about 'You all, think about your mother.' Imperative plural marking does not occur with transitive verbs: (5) χit ̄ a ja-r-mi bo-li zari χabar a‹b›t ̄ i-qi bo-li then this-2-OBL(ERG) say.PF-EVID I.ERG story(NOM) ‹3›let.PF-POT say.PF-EVID daʟʼ daq̄ Ӏʼa door(NOM) 4.lock(IMP) (05.62) 'Then she told (them) - I will tell you a story, but first (you.pl) close the door.'. Prohibitives do not attach the marker -r. Labile verbs do not attach -r when they are used transitively, but may attach it when they are used intransitively: (6) č'ele-t:u cabRa stone-PL throw.IMP 'Throw the stones!' (7) ž w en caRa-r you.PL fall.IMP-IMP.PL Fall down. The Archi plural marker -r is optional (reported by Kibrik, confirmed by our own field research). Most speakers allow both marked and unmarked form when referring to plural addressee: (8) ž w en arha(-r) buwa-s χir you.PL PERSPL.think.IMP(-IMP.PL ) mother-DAT about You all, think about your mother.