threat

[Bakker, D.]

I fully agree with Anne-Marie that the dutch expression

I will X eens V-infin
I will eens V-infin X's Y

could be interpreted as a threat in the sense that when I would do that,
X would find out how unpleasant someone V-ing you, or your Y.
Since X may not be aware of the detrimental aspects of V, it may
also be seen as an indication of the unpleasantness of V, without
the threat of repeating it.
Note that the (unstressed) particle eens 'one time' is crucial here; without it, we simply
would have the literal sense only, without any implication. With it, it
is a (indirect?) threat. 

For the 'teach' example, with the right intonation, threat is the only real speech
act. It could never be taken literally. 
The general assumption is that X knows that V is bad. 
It could have the 'eens' particle, but that is not necessary in this case.
The next (nonverbal) act of the speaker could be an immediate spanking of X.
Especially with the particle, an immediate reaction by the speaker is in fact
expected, and without it the threat becomes empty.

Best,

Dik

Dik Bakker 
Dept. of General Linguistics 
Universities of Amsterdam & Lancaster
tel (+44) 1524 64975 & (+31) 20 5253864
http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/d.bakker/

Societas Linguistica Europaea 
Secretary/Treasurer
http://www.societaslinguistica.eu/

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