Does Searle’s challenge affect chances for approximating assertion and quotative modal wollen?

The possibility of reporting on overheard monologic or ‘secret’ language use by means of the German quotative modal wollen shows that a ‘volitional-epistemic’ analysis of the latter is problematic. This finding allows making a further distinction between Searle’s and Zaefferer’s analyses of assertion, indicating that only the former, based solely on speaker commitment, would be able to properly approximate assertion and quotative wollen. However, embeddability of wollen under negation casts doubt on the desirability of such an approximation. Keywords: assertion; commitment; embedding; quotative evidentials; volition