What is it about?
Subjects in Dogon indicative clauses can bind reflexive objects. Imperative "subjects" cannot; contrast English kill yourself! It is therefore necessary to distinguish subjects (in indicatives) from addressees (in imperatives). Hortatives ('let's go!') have both true subjects ('we') and addressees (singular or plural).
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Why is it important?
Shows that "subject" is not universally valid for imperatives. Also shows that transpersonal reflexives (like Russian s'ja) are true reflexives, as opposed to possessed quasi-reflexives like English yourself.
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This page is a summary of: Subject versus addressee in Dogon imperatives and hortatives, Studies in Language, October 2015, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/sl.39.3.02hea.
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