ABSTRACT
How many Classes P BRUGMANN (Verschiedenheiten der satzgestaltung nach massgabe der seelischen grundfunktionen, Sachs. ges. d. wiss. 1918) has an elaborate classification of sentences or utterances with the folIowing main divisions, most of them with up to 11 subclasses: (1) exclamation, (2) desire, (3) invitation (aufforderung), (4) concession, (5) threat, (6) warding off (abwehr und abweisung), (7) statement about imagined reality, (8) question.l In the treatment of these classes historical considerations often cross purely logical divisions, and it is difficult to see the rationale of the whole classification as well as to see where such simple statements as "he is rich" have to be placed. Thi.'l criticism does not hinder one from acknowledging the high val ue of many things in this book, one of the last things the revered master of comparative philology ever wrote. The older classification is much clearer: (1) statements, (2) questions, (3) desires, (4) exclamations (see, e.g., Sonnenschein's Grammar). But even this division is open to criticism; the boundary between (3) and (4) is not clear: why are "God save the King" and" Long may he reign" excluded from Exclamations, and why are these latter confined to those that are "introduced by exclamatory pronouns, adjectives or adverbs" such as what and how'
A further objection to the classification given by Sonnenschein is that it is expressly meant as a classification of "sentences" only, i.e. such utterances as contain a finite verb. But obviously utterances like "What fun! ", "How odd!", "Glorious!" or "Hurrah!" are "exclamations" just as much as those
If, then, we attempt a purely notional classification of utterances, without regard to their grammatical form, it seems natural to divide them into two main classes, according as the speaker does not or does want to exert an influence on the will of the hearer directly through his utterance. In the former class we must include not only ordinary statements and exclamations, but also such wishes as "God save the King," etc. With regard to this class it is, of course, immaterial whether there is a hearer Or not; such an utterance as "What a nuisance! " is the same whether it is spoken in soliloquy or to someone else.
