Perhaps mirativity is phlogiston, but admirativity is perfect: On Balkan evidential strategies
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Victor A. Friedman
Abstract
Albanian admiratives specify a complex of meanings including `surprise', `disbelief', and `report'. “Non-confirmative” summarizes these in contrast to Macedonian's “confirmative”. Macedonian synthetic preterites specify speaker confirmation, and Macedonian analytic preterites therefore include - but are not limited to - non-confirmation. Albanian synthetic pasts do not specify confirmativity, and admiratives specify a present (disbelief, report) or previous (surprise) state when the speaker would not confirm the event. The Albanian admirative is used where similar Balkan Slavic and Turkish paradigmatic sets are not. The category “mirative” is unnecessary for the Balkan languages, but “admirative” describes the specific intersection of non-confirmative meanings of Albanian.
© 2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Debate 1: Prosodic typology defended - Introduction
- In defense of prosodic typology: A response to Beckman and Venditti
- Debate 2: MIR revisited - Introduction
- “Mirativity” does not exist: ḥdug in “Lhasa” Tibetan and other suspects
- The essence of mirativity
- Didn't you know? Mirativity does exist!
- Perhaps mirativity is phlogiston, but admirativity is perfect: On Balkan evidential strategies
- Still mirative after all these years
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Debate 1: Prosodic typology defended - Introduction
- In defense of prosodic typology: A response to Beckman and Venditti
- Debate 2: MIR revisited - Introduction
- “Mirativity” does not exist: ḥdug in “Lhasa” Tibetan and other suspects
- The essence of mirativity
- Didn't you know? Mirativity does exist!
- Perhaps mirativity is phlogiston, but admirativity is perfect: On Balkan evidential strategies
- Still mirative after all these years
