[[An exclamative sentence is a sentence that contains an °interrogative phrase and, rather than expressing a °question, expresses surprise at the degree or extent of a phenomenon.]]
"Exclamative/exclamation" is often treated as a kind of speech act, but the core use, the expression of surprise, does not require exclamative sentences. Thus, the term is defined here with respect to the non-question use of interrogative phrases.
exclamative (INF/CXN) = a speech act which expresses a strong emotional reaction to the propositional content that it conveys; and the construction that expresses this speech act. More precisely, the exclamative speech act expresses the speaker’s surprise toward the degree of a scalar property contained in the propositional content of the speech act; the rest of the propositional content consists of a presupposed open proposition. Example: What a beautiful house! is an instance of an English exclamative construction. (Sections 12.1, 12.5)