The pragmatics of embedded exclamatives

Abstract

In this chapter, taking into consideration the evidence from Spanish, the pragmatic and semantic content of exclamative expressions in embedded contexts is analyzed. It is argued that embedding is not a straightforward and transparent process. Rather, several very specific pragmatic conditions have to be satisfied. They mostly relate to grounding. Grounding is a contextually dependent process involving de re reference and proper anchoring of a fact. The proposition associated with this fact is the one that would trigger the relevant emotive attitude if such an exclamative was unembedded. The landscape of possible exclamative embedders is charted and it is shown that predicates in other classes, such as directive miratives, are also able to subordinate or embed exclamatives.