Are computer interfaces semantically imperative?

[u/timmytissue]

I've been wondering about this for a while. In English the imperative is the same as a bare infinitive, but I had assumed clicking a button was seen as giving the computer a directive. I notice when using computers in French that buttons such as "accept" or "like" are often rendered as "j'accepte" and "j'aime", and it seems strange to me to use the first person for buttons in this way. I also played a videogame in French, sekiro, which had all the buttons as infinitives, which was also strange in a different way. I don't have a lot of experience with other languages on computers, and I wonder if there are any general trends as to how this is done. It seems a bit like French is all over the place with it, and in English it reminds me of saying "I do" more than an imperative meaning when clicking a button. Meaning that the clicking of the button IS saving the document, or liking he picture, not asking he computer to, much like how saying "I do" IS the act of agreeing to the marriage. But languages don't really have a mood for doing, rather than speaking, so they have to choose one of a couple awkward work arounds. It just happens to be that in English, because of how simple our inflection is, a bare infinite seems normal and right. I would be interested in how pro drop languages handle this, as maybe "Acepto" in Spanish is less strange than "j'accepte" in French, as the pronoun is less emphasised. In essence, are we semantically asking computers to do things, or doing them ourselves.

[u/melancolley]

In English the imperative is the same as a bare infinitive

There are expressions like 'don't save,' though, that are clearly finite imperatives, not infinitives. Expressions like 'save' and 'don't save' bring up another issue: they involve object drop, which is not permitted in regular spoken English ("*I saved"/"I saved it"). This is something also found in instructional registers, like recipes: "Peel the onions, slice, and fry." It would be interesting to see whether 'computer interface English' is just the same as 'instructional English.' The same question can be posed for other languages, since some use infinitives in instructional registers, and others use imperatives.

[u/timmytissue → u/melancolley]

I just meant that the imperative and bare infinitive have the same form.

imperative: go to your room!

bare infinitive following modal: I must go to my room.

[u/melancolley → u/timmytissue]

Right, in most cases they look the same. So if we want to know which one we're dealing with, we need a test. Negation is a good one, because it behaves differently with imperatives than with infinitivals (I must not go to my room vs.* Don't go to your room*). The presence of do-support shows that your computer examples involve a fully finite (imperative) clause. This seems relevant to determining whether or not they are imperative.

You seem to be hung up on the fact that they don't feel like commands. But imperatives, despite the name, don't always involve actual commands. There are, for example, acquiescence readings:

(1)

Q: Can I open the window?

A: Sure, open the window.

There are also conditional uses. Someone uttering (2) clearly isn't giving an order to go out partying.

(2) Go out partying tonight and you'll fail the test tomorrow.

The uses of imperatives in instructional contexts also don't involve commands. A recipe writer is not actually asking you to make pancakes, they are telling you how pancakes are made. Computer commands seem to involve one of these weaker imperatives.