Evidentiality in Interaction

In recent decades, linguists have significantly advanced our understanding of the grammatical properties of evidentials, but their social and interactional properties and uses have received less attention. This volume, originally published as a special issue of Pragmatics and Society (issue 3:2, 2012), draws together complementary perspectives on the social and interactional life of evidentiality, drawing on data from diverse languages, including Albanian, English, Garrwa (Pama-Nyungan, Australia), Huamalíes Quechua (Quechuan, Peru), Nanti (Arawak, Peru), and Pastaza Quichua (Quechuan, Ecuador). The language-specific studies in this volume are all based on the close analysis of discourse or communicative interaction, and examine both evidential systems of varying degrees of grammaticalization and 'evidential strategies' present in languages without grammaticalized evidentials. The analyses presented draw on conversational analysis, ethnography of communication, ethnopoetics, pragmatics, and theories of deixis and indexicality, and will be of interest to students of evidentiality in a variety of analytical traditions.

Roxana Magdalena Dinca, University of Bucharest, on Linguist List 26.4375:
Overall, not only from a theoretical point of view, but also from the analysis of different data presented, the book helps to understand how the social interaction perspective goes with evidentiality and evidential strategies in different languages. The articles represent the most current advances in research on this topic. Thus, I believe students and researchers who look for detailed analysis on evidentiality will benefit from reading this volume.