Evidentiality: Difference between revisions

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==Grammatical evidentiality==

All languages have some means of specifying the source of information. European languages (such as Germanic and Romance languages) often indicate evidential-type information through [[modal verb]]s (French: ''devoir'') or [[lexical]] words or phrases (English: ''reportedly'', ''it seems to me''). However, some languages have a distinct [[grammatical category]] of evidentiality that is required to be expressed at all times. ThisThe grammatical categoryelements in manyEuropean languages isindicating independentthe frominformation source are optional and thus do not form a [[grammatical tense|tense]]-[[category. Elements of grammatical aspect|aspect]]evidentiality orsystems epistemicmay be translated into English, variously, as ''I guess'', ''I hear that'', ''they say'', ''it is said'', ''alleged'', ''stated'', ''allegedly'', ''reportedly'', ''it seems'', ''it seems to me that'', ''it looks like'', ''it appears that'', ''it turns out that'', ''obviously'', ''as far as I understand'', ''as I hear'', ''as I can see/hear'', modalityetc.

Many languages with grammatical evidentiality mark evidentiality independently from [[grammatical tense|tense]]-[[grammatical aspect|aspect]] or epistemic modality. Grammatical evidentiality may be expressed in different forms, such as [[affix]]es, [[clitic]]s, [[auxiliary verb]]s (esp. [[modal verb]]s), or [[grammatical particle|particle]]s. These[[Eastern languages with grammatical evidentiality contrast with languages likePomo]] Englishhas where4 evidential marking is not obligatory and is expressed [[lexicallysuffix]] instead of grammatically. Evidential-marking elements in these languages may be translated into English, variously, as ''I guess'', ''I heares that'', ''theyare say'',added ''itto is said''verbs, ''alleged-ink’e'', ''stated'',(non-visual ''allegedly''sensory), ''reportedly-ine'', ''it seems''(inferential), ''it seems to me that-·le'', ''it looks like''(hearsay), ''it appears that-ya'', ''it(direct turns out that'', ''obviously'', ''as far as I understand'', ''as I hear'', ''as I can see/hear'', etc.knowledge)

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! Verb

! Gloss

|-

| pʰa·békʰ'''-ink’e'''

| "burned"<br>[speaker felt the sensation]

|-

| pʰa·bék'''-ine'''

| "must have burned"<br>[speaker saw circumstantial evidence]

|-

| pʰa·békʰ'''-·le'''

| "burned, they say"<br>[speaker is reporting what was told]

|-

| pʰa·bék'''-a'''

| "burned"<br>[speaker has direct evidence]

|}

: <cite>(McClendon 2003)</cite>

==Types of grammatical evidentiality==