Evaluation between grammar and context

Abstract 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.