Modality in Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics

What do we mean when we say things like ''If only we knew what he was up to!'' Clearly this is more than just a message, or a question to our addressee. We are expressing simultaneously that we don''t know, and also that we wish to know. Several modes of encoding contribute to such modalities of expression: word order, subordinating subjunctions, sentences that are subordinated but nevertheless oc...