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Evaluation between grammar and context

The case of blessings and curses

ORCID logo | Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, CNRS | Université Lyon 2
This paper analyzes how the grammatical meaning of qualitative evaluation is developed in optatives which denote blessings and curses. Based on the analysis of several Turkic forms and several Russian constructions, this study distinguishes the grammatical meaning of evaluation from a pragmatic implication arising in particular contexts. It shows that grammatical items that have evaluative usages often exhibit a certain “fluidity”, with positive or negative interpretation specified by the context. Positive or negative evaluation comes as a pragmatic satellite, and even if the category generally leans towards a negative (or positive) interpretation, it can in certain contexts display the opposite evaluation. Based on this approach, the paper suggests two different paths of the development of grammatical markers which denote qualitative evaluation.
Keywords: optative, qualitative evaluation, maledictive, benedictive, Turkic languages, Russian
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Evaluative optatives cross-linguistically
  • 3.Optatives formed with the suffix -gyr/-qyr in Turkic languages
    • 3.1Uzbek optative: Neutral
    • 3.2Kumyk and Nogai optatives: Evaluative in context
    • 3.3Kazakh optative: Evaluative in grammar
  • 4.Evaluative optatives: Russian wish-constructions
    • 4.1Blessings in Russian
      • 4.1.1Blessings based on clauses with the verb želatʹ ‘wish’
      • 4.1.2Blessings based on imperatives
      • 4.1.3Summary
    • 4.2Curses in Russian
    • 4.3Summary
  • 5.Why blessings and curses can be expressed by different means
  • 6.Evaluation between grammar and context: Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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