¡Vete tú a saber!: caracterización de un imperativo retórico en español

This paper analyzes the grammatical properties of the construction. It is shown that other predicates apart from saber are accepted, though with restrictions. Lexical restrictions are due to the semantics of the construction under examination. It is argued that the two most relevant lexical features are its rethorical interpretation and its modal deontic value. Finally, it is asked whether exists or not any sort of relationship between the rethorical imperative and the periphrasis that takes the verb ir and an infinitive. The answer is negative.