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Chapter 1. Evidentiality as stance

Event types and speaker roles
  • Henrik Bergqvist
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Evidence for Evidentiality
This chapter is in the book Evidence for Evidentiality

Abstract

This chapter argues for a view of evidentials as a type of shifter and outlines a theory of reference for evidentials that separates the configuration of the ground from the relational axis, and the alignment between ground and figure. The chapter also evaluates a proposal by Kockelman (2004) that draws on Jakobson’s notion of “event type” and Goffman’s “speaker roles” to suggest an existing analogy between “commitment events” for modals and “source events” for evidentials. The scope properties of ‘factual’ forms in both systems notably constitute a formal difference between (epistemic) modality and evidentiality that cannot be accounted for solely by the referential properties of evidentials.

Abstract

This chapter argues for a view of evidentials as a type of shifter and outlines a theory of reference for evidentials that separates the configuration of the ground from the relational axis, and the alignment between ground and figure. The chapter also evaluates a proposal by Kockelman (2004) that draws on Jakobson’s notion of “event type” and Goffman’s “speaker roles” to suggest an existing analogy between “commitment events” for modals and “source events” for evidentials. The scope properties of ‘factual’ forms in both systems notably constitute a formal difference between (epistemic) modality and evidentiality that cannot be accounted for solely by the referential properties of evidentials.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. What do we know? Knowledge and evidence
  6. Chapter 1. Evidentiality as stance 19
  7. Chapter 2. Factual vs. evidential? The past tense forms of spoken Khalkha Mongolian 45
  8. Chapter 3. I think and I believe 77
  9. Chapter 4. (Yo) creo que as a marker of evidentiality and epistemic modality 99
  10. Chapter 5. Finnish evidential adverbs in argumentative texts 121
  11. Part II. When do we know? Accessibility of evidence in time
  12. Chapter 6. Uralic perspectives on experimental evidence for evidentials 145
  13. Chapter 7. Reportive sollen in an exclusively functional view of evidentiality 173
  14. Chapter 8. The French future 199
  15. Chapter 9. Evidence for the development of ‘evidentiality’ as a grammatical category in the Tibetic languages 227
  16. Chapter 10. From similarity to evidentiality 257
  17. Chapter 11. What can different types of linguistic data teach us on evidentiality? 281
  18. Author Index 305
  19. Language index 309
  20. Subject index 311
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.61.02ber

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. What do we know? Knowledge and evidence
  6. Chapter 1. Evidentiality as stance 19
  7. Chapter 2. Factual vs. evidential? The past tense forms of spoken Khalkha Mongolian 45
  8. Chapter 3. I think and I believe 77
  9. Chapter 4. (Yo) creo que as a marker of evidentiality and epistemic modality 99
  10. Chapter 5. Finnish evidential adverbs in argumentative texts 121
  11. Part II. When do we know? Accessibility of evidence in time
  12. Chapter 6. Uralic perspectives on experimental evidence for evidentials 145
  13. Chapter 7. Reportive sollen in an exclusively functional view of evidentiality 173
  14. Chapter 8. The French future 199
  15. Chapter 9. Evidence for the development of ‘evidentiality’ as a grammatical category in the Tibetic languages 227
  16. Chapter 10. From similarity to evidentiality 257
  17. Chapter 11. What can different types of linguistic data teach us on evidentiality? 281
  18. Author Index 305
  19. Language index 309
  20. Subject index 311
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