Pragmatic aspects of grammaticalization

Abstract This article aims to describe and evaluate some recent accounts of pragmatic aspects of grammaticalization. It examines inferences that contribute to grammaticalization, the limits of the contribution of pragmatic inference to grammaticalisation, and how inferential meaning becomes encoded meaning. It argues that the inferences, or interpretations, which contribute to grammaticalisation are those which are intended by the speaker and which are routinely associated with particular expressions.