ABSTRACT
It is not rare that the three uses are found in the same language, where confusion can be avoided by some means, for example by variation of vowel or tone. But sometimes the verb-root is used as infinitive or third person singular of the aorist in a language where it is not used as imperative. The reason is usually that the imperative customarily includes a particle of emphasis, and the typical case is represented by the Finno-Ugrian family of languages. In the Hamitic languages, too, the infinitive is generally the verbal root, or the shortest and simplest form of the verb next to the imperative. The authors have noticed a number of instances where the infinitive is used as an imperative, but no cases where the imperative is used as an infinitive. But to make such an assumption in regard to the beginnings of language is to substitute theory for history.
