Deo (2025): Take on this commitment: the particle bərə in Marathi

This file formalizes [Deo25]'s analysis of the Marathi utterance-final particle bərə in declaratives and imperatives. The particle turns a declarative into a warning, a piece of advice or a reminder and an imperative into a command, a warning or a strong recommendation, (1) to (8) and (12) to (15), and is out in a commissive and in the response to one, (9) and (16), and in the imperatives of requests, pleas, offers, permissions, concessions and curses, (10) and (11). The analysis is set in a commitment-based theory of sentential force ([Gun01], [FB10], [CL12]): the discourse commitments of a participant are doxastic or preferential, (17a), the common ground and the joint preferences are their intersections across participants, (17b) and (17c), and a declarative or an imperative commits the speaker to its content under the one attitude or the other, (18). [Gun08]'s distinction between the participant who is the source of a commitment and one who is a dependent, taking it on from the other party's testimony or expressed preference, is extended to preferential commitments, §3.2. Bərə adds a commitment of its own, (20): the speaker's preferential commitment to the addressee's dependent uptake of the content. Its felicity condition, (21), is that the speaker takes the uptake to be a precondition for an addressee-benefiting goal among the speaker's effective preferences and, §3.3, that nothing shows the addressee's action choices already aligned with the goal. The profile follows, §3.4: when the addressee is manifestly a source for the content, the uptake is unrealizable and the bərə commitment cannot be sincere, which excludes permissions, concessions, commissives and their responses, and the revealed preference of (15); an offer or invitation leaves the choice to the addressee, against the preference for dependent uptake; a request, a plea or a curse serves no addressee-benefiting goal; and the warning of (5a) meets the felicity condition where (5b), whose content is one way among many to the goal, does not.

Implementation notes

The commitment state is indexed by worlds, as in CondoravdiLauer2012.imp, so that the uptake of a content is a proposition, the worlds at which the addressee is a dependent for it. Being a source for a content, the paper's DC_x^ind, is having a commitment of one's own to it under either attitude, and being a dependent is having a commitment to it on the other party's word and none of one's own; Commitment.Source supplies the coordinate. The paper's effective preferences EP(s, w) are Desire.Preferential.Want and the sincerity of the bərə commitment is Commitment.Sincere, so that its infelicity under a manifest addressee commitment is the unrealizability of the uptake, PreferenceStructure.Consistent.realistic, relative to the speaker's information state B as in Studies/CondoravdiLauer2012.lean. Whom a goal benefits is a primitive of the context, as in the paper, and the salient goal is a parameter of the felicity condition. An offer or invitation is rendered as the speaker's effective preference that any commitment of the addressee to the content be the addressee's own, the paper's one-line derivation. The speaker's authority over the addressee, §2.2, does no work in the paper's derivations and is not modeled; the wh-interrogative use, (3), and the compound bərə ka, §4, are outside the paper's analysis.

TODO

• The threat commissives of fn. 14 allow bərə; the paper leaves them unexplained.

References

• [Deo25]
• [CL12]
• [Gun01]
• [Gun08]
• [FB10]
• [Rud18]

Sources and dependents, (17) and §3.2

def Deo2025.IsSource {W : Type u_1} (K : Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (x : Discourse.Role) (p : Set W) : Prop

x is a source for p in K: a commitment of x's own to p under either attitude, p ∈ DC_x^ind.

Equations

• Deo2025.IsSource K x p = ∃ (f : Commitment.Force), Commitment.commit x p f ∈ K

def Deo2025.IsDependent {W : Type u_1} (K : Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (x : Discourse.Role) (p : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) : Prop

x is a dependent for p under the attitude f in K: a commitment to p on the other party's testimony or expressed preference, and none of x's own, p ∈ DC_x^dep.

Equations

• Deo2025.IsDependent K x p f = (Commitment.commit x p f Commitment.Source.otherGenerated ∈ K ∧ ¬Deo2025.IsSource K x p)

def Deo2025.joint {W : Type u_1} (K : Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (f : Commitment.Force) : Set (Set W)

The contents every participant is committed to under f: the common ground for .doxastic and the joint preferences for .preferential, (17b) and (17c), [Rud18]'s teleological common ground.

Equations

• Deo2025.joint K f = ⋂ (x : Discourse.Role), Commitment.contents (Commitment.ofForce (Commitment.ofCommitter K x) f)

The conventions, (18) and (20)

def Deo2025.uptake {W : Type u_1} (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (p : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) : Set W

The uptake of p under f: the worlds at which p is among the addressee's dependent commitments, what the speaker prefers in (20).

Equations

• Deo2025.uptake K p f = {v : W | Deo2025.IsDependent (K v) Discourse.Role.addressee p f}

def Deo2025.utter {W : Type u_1} (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (p : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) (w : W) : Commitment.State Discourse.Role W

Uttering p in a clause of force f at w, (18): a declarative commits the speaker to p doxastically and an imperative preferentially.

Equations

• Deo2025.utter K p f w = insert (Commitment.commit Discourse.Role.speaker p f) (K w)

def Deo2025.bara {W : Type u_1} (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (p : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) (w : W) : Commitment.State Discourse.Role W

Uttering p in a clause of force f with bərə at w: the clause-type commitment and, over and above it, the speaker's preferential commitment to the uptake of p, (20).

Equations

• Deo2025.bara K p f w = insert (Commitment.commit Discourse.Role.speaker (Deo2025.uptake K p f) Commitment.Force.preferential) (Deo2025.utter K p f w)

theorem Deo2025.slate_bara_le {W : Type u_1} (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (p : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) (w : W) : Commitment.slate (bara K p f w) ≤ Commitment.slate (utter K p f w)

Bərə augments the force rather than modifying it, §4: whatever the plain utterance entails, the bərə-utterance entails.

theorem Deo2025.bara_contextSets {W : Type u_1} (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (p : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) (w : W) : Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (bara K p f w) Commitment.Force.preferential) = uptake K p f ∩ Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (utter K p f w) Commitment.Force.preferential) ∧ Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (bara K p f w) Commitment.Force.doxastic) = Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (utter K p f w) Commitment.Force.doxastic)

Bərə's own effect: the preferential context set narrows by the uptake and the doxastic one stays.

theorem Deo2025.declarative_contextSets {W : Type u_1} (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (p : Set W) (w : W) : Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (bara K p Commitment.Force.doxastic w) Commitment.Force.doxastic) = p ∩ Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (K w) Commitment.Force.doxastic) ∧ Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (bara K p Commitment.Force.doxastic w) Commitment.Force.preferential) = uptake K p Commitment.Force.doxastic ∩ Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (K w) Commitment.Force.preferential)

A bərə-declarative, (22): the speaker believes the content and prefers its uptake.

theorem Deo2025.imperative_contextSets {W : Type u_1} (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (p : Set W) (w : W) : Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (bara K p Commitment.Force.preferential w) Commitment.Force.preferential) = uptake K p Commitment.Force.preferential ∩ (p ∩ Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (K w) Commitment.Force.preferential)) ∧ Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (bara K p Commitment.Force.preferential w) Commitment.Force.doxastic) = Commitment.contextSet (Commitment.ofForce (K w) Commitment.Force.doxastic)

A bərə-imperative, (23): the speaker prefers the content and its uptake and believes nothing new.

theorem Deo2025.mem_joint_insert {W : Type u_1} (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (p : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) (w : W) (s : Commitment.Source) : p ∈ joint (insert (Commitment.commit Discourse.Role.addressee p f s) (bara K p f w)) f

Once the addressee takes up the content of a bərə-utterance, dependently or not, it joins the joint commitments under its attitude, §4: the implicit preference that bərə makes explicit.

Felicity, (21) and §3.3

def Deo2025.Felicitous {W : Type u_1} (P : Discourse.Role → W → PreferenceStructure W) (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (B : Set W) (benefits : Set W → Discourse.Role → Prop) (g p : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) (w : W) : Prop

The felicity condition on bərə, (21) with the contextual condition of §3.3, at w in a context with the speaker's information state B, the salient goal g and the primitive benefits: the speaker's preferential commitments are sincere; g is an effective preference of the speaker's that benefits the addressee and, by the speaker's information, is fulfilled only if the addressee takes up p; and the speaker's information does not already have the addressee taking up p. A content the addressee is taken to have taken up already, (7) in its first context, fails the last clause.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Deo2025.Defers {W : Type u_1} (P : Discourse.Role → W → PreferenceStructure W) (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (p : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) (w : W) : Prop

An offer or invitation leaves the choice to the addressee: the speaker effectively prefers that any commitment of the addressee to p be the addressee's own, the complement of the uptake.

Equations

• Deo2025.Defers P K p f w = Desire.Preferential.Want P Discourse.Role.speaker (Deo2025.uptake K p f)ᶜ w

theorem Deo2025.want_uptake_of_sincere {W : Type u_1} {P : Discourse.Role → W → PreferenceStructure W} {K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W} {p : Set W} {f : Commitment.Force} {w : W} (h : Commitment.Sincere P (bara K p f w) w) : Desire.Preferential.Want P Discourse.Role.speaker (uptake K p f) w

A sincere bərə-utterance is an effective preference for the uptake.

theorem Deo2025.sincere_bara_iff {W : Type u_1} {P : Discourse.Role → W → PreferenceStructure W} {K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W} {p : Set W} {f : Commitment.Force} {w : W} : Commitment.Sincere P (bara K p f w) w ↔ Desire.Preferential.Want P Discourse.Role.speaker (uptake K p f) w ∧ (f = Commitment.Force.preferential → Desire.Preferential.Want P Discourse.Role.speaker p w) ∧ Commitment.Sincere P (K w) w

The bərə-utterance is sincere when the speaker effectively prefers the uptake, prefers the content if the clause is an imperative, and was sincere before.

theorem Deo2025.inter_uptake_eq_empty {W : Type u_1} {K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W} {B p : Set W} {f : Commitment.Force} (h : ∀ v ∈ B, IsSource (K v) Discourse.Role.addressee p) : B ∩ uptake K p f = ∅

When the speaker's information has the addressee a source for p, the uptake of p is unrealizable: a source is no dependent.

theorem Deo2025.not_felicitous_of_isSource {W : Type u_1} {P : Discourse.Role → W → PreferenceStructure W} {K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W} {B p : Set W} {w : W} (benefits : Set W → Discourse.Role → Prop) (g : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) (hC : (P Discourse.Role.speaker w).Consistent B) (h : ∀ v ∈ B, IsSource (K v) Discourse.Role.addressee p) : ¬Felicitous P K B benefits g p f w

A manifest commitment of the addressee, §3.4: with the addressee already a source for p by the speaker's information, a sincere bərə commitment would be an effective preference for the unrealizable, against the consistency of the speaker's effective preferences, so bərə is out: a permission or concession, (11b) and (11c), the revealed preference of (15), a commissive, (9), and the response to one, (16).

theorem Deo2025.not_felicitous_of_defers {W : Type u_1} {P : Discourse.Role → W → PreferenceStructure W} {K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W} {B p : Set W} {f : Commitment.Force} {w : W} (benefits : Set W → Discourse.Role → Prop) (g : Set W) (hC : (P Discourse.Role.speaker w).Consistent B) (h : Defers P K p f w) : ¬Felicitous P K B benefits g p f w

Deference, §3.4: the preference for dependent uptake and the preference that leaves the choice to the addressee are not jointly realizable, so bərə is out in an offer or invitation, (11a).

theorem Deo2025.not_felicitous_of_not_benefits {W : Type u_1} {benefits : Set W → Discourse.Role → Prop} {g : Set W} (P : Discourse.Role → W → PreferenceStructure W) (K : W → Commitment.State Discourse.Role W) (B p : Set W) (f : Commitment.Force) (w : W) (h : ¬benefits g Discourse.Role.addressee) : ¬Felicitous P K B benefits g p f w

A goal that does not benefit the addressee, §3.4: a request or plea serves the speaker alone, (10), and a curse harms the addressee, (11d).

The warning of (5): a precondition against a way among many

structure Deo2025.Weather : Type

A world of the scenario of (5): whether it rains today, whether tomorrow is sunny, whether Anu drives today, and whether she has taken up, on Bilal's word, each of the two weather facts.

• rain : Bool

  It rains today.

• sunny : Bool

  Tomorrow is sunny.

• drives : Bool

  Anu drives today.

• upRain : Bool

  Anu has taken up on Bilal's word that it rains today.

• upSunny : Bool

  Anu has taken up on Bilal's word that tomorrow is sunny.

def Deo2025.instDecidableEqWeather.decEq (x✝ x✝¹ : Weather) : Decidable (x✝ = x✝¹)

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

@[instance_reducible]

instance Deo2025.instDecidableEqWeather : DecidableEq Weather

Equations

• Deo2025.instDecidableEqWeather = Deo2025.instDecidableEqWeather.decEq

def Deo2025.Weather.raining : Set Weather

The content of (5a): it rains today.

Equations

• Deo2025.Weather.raining = {v : Deo2025.Weather | v.rain = true}

def Deo2025.Weather.sunnyTomorrow : Set Weather

The content of (5b): tomorrow is sunny.

Equations

• Deo2025.Weather.sunnyTomorrow = {v : Deo2025.Weather | v.sunny = true}

def Deo2025.Weather.safe : Set Weather

Bilal's goal: Anu stays safe, not driving today.

Equations

• Deo2025.Weather.safe = {v : Deo2025.Weather | ¬v.drives = true}

def Deo2025.Weather.state (v : Weather) : Commitment.State Discourse.Role Weather

The addressee's dependent doxastic commitments at a world: to whichever weather facts she has taken up.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Deo2025.Weather.info : Set Weather

Bilal's information: the weather facts, and that Anu stays home only if she takes his word on the rain.

Equations

• Deo2025.Weather.info = {v : Deo2025.Weather | v.rain = true ∧ v.sunny = true ∧ (¬v.drives = true → v.upRain = true)}

def Deo2025.Weather.prefs : Discourse.Role → Weather → PreferenceStructure Weather

Bilal effectively prefers that Anu take up the rain and that she be safe; Anu's preferences play no part.

Equations

• Deo2025.Weather.prefs Discourse.Role.speaker x✝ = PreferenceStructure.discrete {Deo2025.uptake Deo2025.Weather.state Deo2025.Weather.raining Commitment.Force.doxastic, Deo2025.Weather.safe}
• Deo2025.Weather.prefs Discourse.Role.addressee x✝ = PreferenceStructure.discrete ∅

def Deo2025.Weather.benefit (q : Set Weather) : Discourse.Role → Prop

Staying safe is what benefits anyone here.

Equations

• Deo2025.Weather.benefit q x✝ = (q = Deo2025.Weather.safe)

def Deo2025.Weather.w₀ : Weather

The world of utterance: it rains, tomorrow is sunny, Anu is set to drive and has taken up neither fact.

Equations

• Deo2025.Weather.w₀ = { rain := true, sunny := true, drives := true, upRain := false, upSunny := false }

theorem Deo2025.Weather.raining_ne_sunnyTomorrow : raining ≠ sunnyTomorrow

theorem Deo2025.Weather.not_isSource (v : Weather) (q : Set Weather) : ¬IsSource v.state Discourse.Role.addressee q

theorem Deo2025.Weather.mem_state_raining {v : Weather} : Commitment.commit Discourse.Role.addressee raining Commitment.Force.doxastic Commitment.Source.otherGenerated ∈ v.state ↔ v.upRain = true

theorem Deo2025.Weather.mem_state_sunnyTomorrow {v : Weather} : Commitment.commit Discourse.Role.addressee sunnyTomorrow Commitment.Force.doxastic Commitment.Source.otherGenerated ∈ v.state ↔ v.upSunny = true

theorem Deo2025.Weather.mem_uptake_raining {v : Weather} : v ∈ uptake state raining Commitment.Force.doxastic ↔ v.upRain = true

theorem Deo2025.Weather.mem_uptake_sunnyTomorrow {v : Weather} : v ∈ uptake state sunnyTomorrow Commitment.Force.doxastic ↔ v.upSunny = true

theorem Deo2025.Weather.felicitous_raining : Felicitous prefs state info benefit safe raining Commitment.Force.doxastic w₀

The warning of (5a) is felicitous: by Bilal's information Anu stays safe only if she takes his word on the rain, and she may yet drive without doing so.

theorem Deo2025.Weather.not_felicitous_sunnyTomorrow : ¬Felicitous prefs state info benefit safe sunnyTomorrow Commitment.Force.doxastic w₀

(5b) is not: Anu can stay safe without taking Bilal's word on tomorrow's weather.

The recommendation of (15): a latent against a revealed preference

structure Deo2025.Car : Type

A world of the scenario of (15): whether Bilal takes the car and whether he has taken up doing so on Anu's proposal.

• takes : Bool

  Bilal takes the car.

• up : Bool

  Bilal has taken up taking the car on Anu's proposal.

@[instance_reducible]

instance Deo2025.instDecidableEqCar : DecidableEq Car

Equations

• Deo2025.instDecidableEqCar = Deo2025.instDecidableEqCar.decEq

def Deo2025.instDecidableEqCar.decEq (x✝ x✝¹ : Car) : Decidable (x✝ = x✝¹)

Equations

• Deo2025.instDecidableEqCar.decEq { takes := a, up := a_1 } { takes := b, up := b_1 } = if h : a = b then h ▸ if h : a_1 = b_1 then h ▸ isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

def Deo2025.Car.taking : Set Car

The content of (15): Bilal takes the car today.

Equations

• Deo2025.Car.taking = {v : Deo2025.Car | v.takes = true}

def Deo2025.Car.latent (v : Car) : Commitment.State Discourse.Role Car

The first context: Bilal's only commitment to taking the car, when he has one, is dependent on Anu's proposal.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Deo2025.Car.revealed (v : Car) : Commitment.State Discourse.Role Car

The second context: Bilal has revealed his preference for taking the car.

Equations

• v.revealed = insert (Commitment.commit Discourse.Role.addressee Deo2025.Car.taking Commitment.Force.preferential) v.latent

def Deo2025.Car.info : Set Car

Anu's information: Bilal takes the car only on her proposal.

Equations

• Deo2025.Car.info = {v : Deo2025.Car | v.takes = true → v.up = true}

def Deo2025.Car.prefs : Discourse.Role → Car → PreferenceStructure Car

Anu effectively prefers that Bilal take the car and take it up from her; Bilal prefers to take the car, a preference he has not revealed.

Equations

• Deo2025.Car.prefs Discourse.Role.speaker x✝ = PreferenceStructure.discrete {Deo2025.uptake Deo2025.Car.latent Deo2025.Car.taking Commitment.Force.preferential, Deo2025.Car.taking}
• Deo2025.Car.prefs Discourse.Role.addressee x✝ = PreferenceStructure.single Deo2025.Car.taking

def Deo2025.Car.benefit (q : Set Car) : Discourse.Role → Prop

Making the meeting is what benefits anyone here.

Equations

• Deo2025.Car.benefit q x✝ = (q = Deo2025.Car.taking)

def Deo2025.Car.w₀ : Car

The world of utterance: Bilal has neither taken the car nor taken up doing so.

Equations

• Deo2025.Car.w₀ = { takes := false, up := false }

theorem Deo2025.Car.not_isSource (v : Car) (q : Set Car) : ¬IsSource v.latent Discourse.Role.addressee q

theorem Deo2025.Car.mem_latent {v : Car} : Commitment.commit Discourse.Role.addressee taking Commitment.Force.preferential Commitment.Source.otherGenerated ∈ v.latent ↔ v.up = true

theorem Deo2025.Car.mem_uptake {v : Car} : v ∈ uptake latent taking Commitment.Force.preferential ↔ v.up = true

theorem Deo2025.Car.felicitous_latent : Felicitous prefs latent info benefit taking taking Commitment.Force.preferential w₀ ∧ Desire.Preferential.Want prefs Discourse.Role.addressee taking w₀

The first context of (15): Bilal's preference for the car is latent, and the recommendation with bərə is felicitous.

theorem Deo2025.Car.not_felicitous_revealed (P : Discourse.Role → Car → PreferenceStructure Car) (hC : (P Discourse.Role.speaker w₀).Consistent info) : ¬Felicitous P revealed info benefit taking taking Commitment.Force.preferential w₀

The second context of (15): Bilal has revealed his preference and is a source for the content, so under any consistent effective preferences of Anu's bərə is out.