<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
Dear colleagues,
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
since my master’s thesis (admittedly, a couple years ago), I have
been struggling with the manifestation of volition in grammar.
Please
consider the following contrast:</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
There is one type of utterances which communicate to the hearer
that
the speaker <u>wants</u> P. Like a command, they appeal to him to
see
to it that P be realized. This is explicit in (1a).</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
(1)(a) Please shut the window!</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US"> (b) The window should be shut.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
In this sense, (1b) is an indirect speech act, but the type of
volition conveyed is the same. One might say that (1)(a) and (b)
share their illocutionary force.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
<br>
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
There is another type of utterances which express that the speaker
<u>wishes</u> P. They are exclamations which do not appeal to
anybody
for fulfillment of P:</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
(2)(a) If only Linda arrived in time!</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US"> (b) The devil take him!</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
Sentences of type #2 are introduced by <i>utinam</i> in Latin, <i>ojalá</i>
in Spanish, and so forth. Such particles are not used in sentences
of
type #1.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
<br>
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
Also, unfulfillable wishes (traditionally: irreal optative
sentences)
are fine and common as type #2, but in type #1 produce utterances
hard to interpret.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
<br>
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US">
Here are my questions to you:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US"> Is there an established conceptual and
terminological distinction between these two types? How about
(1) volitive and (2) optative?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm"
lang="en-US"> Does type #2 have an illocutionary force? Do
exclamations have an illocutionary force?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<p style="font-size:90%">Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br>
Rudolfstr. 4<br>
99092 Erfurt<br>
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Deutschland</span></p>
<table style="font-size:80%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Tel.:</td>
<td>+49/361/2113417</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>E-Post:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:christianw_lehmann@arcor.de">christianw_lehmann@arcor.de</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Web:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.christianlehmann.eu">https://www.christianlehmann.eu</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</body>
</html>