5360
I've recently been noticing some patterns which look like two repeated past-
tense verbs, but I think which indicate a command rather than the past tense.
For example:

>
> さあ、[行った行った](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E8%A1%8C%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E8%A1%8C%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F)。  
>  "Get along with you!"

I also noticed in the Baseball manga
["Major"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_%28manga%29) the following, which
was called over a loudspeaker:

> 入った！入った！

But I'm not sure what it means, or indeed if it is a command or
baseball/sport-specific (it was at the start of the chapter and I'm missing
the previous volume so I'm not 100% sure what the context is.)

If both of the above are commands, are they roughly equivalent to `さあ、行け` and
`入れ！`? Is `行け！` more assertive than `行った行った！`?

Can this pattern work with any verb, e.g. `さあ、食べた食べた！` or is does it only work
for a few?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-04-28T01:48:43.327
5356
2015-05-15T08:46:17.117
2015-05-15T08:46:17.117
796
question
grammar verbs modality
Usage of doubled non-past tense "た"
Axel Svahn has written about this construction in detail, including summaries
of other scholars' viewpoints:

  * [Imperative -ta in colloquial Japanese: A descriptive analysis](http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile;recordOId=1322097;fileOId=1322098) (Bachelors' thesis, 2007)
  * [The perfective imperative in Japanese](http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile;recordOId=1579617;fileOId=1585445) (Masters' thesis, 2009)

That second one in particular is well worth reading if you are interested in
this subject. It includes this summary of what -ta is:

>   1. It functions as a highly informal imperative.
>   2. It is associated with a feeling of urgency on the part of the speaker.
>   3. It is not a phonetic alteration of another imperative construction
> (such as the -te or -e (ro) constructions mentioned in chapter 2), but is
> instead derived from the perfective function of the past tense marker -ta
> and its modal use in expressing the attitude of the speaker towards a given
> situation.

There is also a very interesting discussion of the various theories about why,
if it is so "informal" or "crude", it is nevertheless so commonly used by
shopkeepers trying to get customers to buy what they have to sell.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-04-28T06:50:43.543
5360
2012-04-28T08:10:41.213
2012-04-28T08:10:41.213
531
531
5356
answer