Two kinds of epistemic modality in Hungarian
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Ferenc Kiefer
Abstract
The article provides an overview of epistemic expressions in Hungarian. The bulk of the article is devoted to the discussion of the meaning of the possibility suffix, which may express plain possibility but may also have an evidential use in which case it expresses probability rather than plain possibility. The two meanings correlate with two different sentence structures. In the first case the modal verb (i.e. the suffixed verb form) carries main stress and is followed by the complement(s) of the verb, in the second case the modal verb is unstressed and is preceded by a focused constituent. It will be shown that the second meaning is evidential. The two meanings will be termed epistemic possibility and evidential probability, respectively. Epistemic necessity is expressed by a verb whose meaning, however, is not very different from epistemic possibility. The last section of the article discusses some aspects of the uses of modal particles and modal adverbials.
Abstract
The article provides an overview of epistemic expressions in Hungarian. The bulk of the article is devoted to the discussion of the meaning of the possibility suffix, which may express plain possibility but may also have an evidential use in which case it expresses probability rather than plain possibility. The two meanings correlate with two different sentence structures. In the first case the modal verb (i.e. the suffixed verb form) carries main stress and is followed by the complement(s) of the verb, in the second case the modal verb is unstressed and is preceded by a focused constituent. It will be shown that the second meaning is evidential. The two meanings will be termed epistemic possibility and evidential probability, respectively. Epistemic necessity is expressed by a verb whose meaning, however, is not very different from epistemic possibility. The last section of the article discusses some aspects of the uses of modal particles and modal adverbials.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- Editorial Preface vii
- List of Contributors ix
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Part I: Germanic languages
- Epistemic modality, Danish modal verbs and the tripartition of utterances 3
- Epistemic evaluation in factual contexts in English 22
- SHOULD in Conditional Clauses: When Epistemicity Meets Appreciative Modality 52
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Part II: Romance languages
- Epistemic modality and evidentiality in Romance: the Reportive Conditional 69
- Epistemic modality and perfect morphology in Spanish and French 103
- Anchoring evidential, epistemic and beyond in discourse: alào, vantér and vér in Noirmoutier island (Poitevin-Saintongeais) 131
- A prosody account of (inter)subjective modal adverbs in Spanish 153
- French expressions of personal opinion: je crois / pense / trouve / estime / considère que p 179
- Mirative extensions in Romance: evidential or epistemic? 196
- The Italian epistemic future and Russian epistemic markers as linguistic manifestations of conjectural conclusion: a comparative analysis 217
- Epistemic modality, evidentiality, quotativity and echoic use 242
- Evidentiality, epistemic modality and negation in Lithuanian: revisited 259
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Part IV: Non Indo-European languages
- Two kinds of epistemic modality in Hungarian 281
- Epistemic modalities in spoken Tibetan 296
- Intersubjectification revisited: a cross-categorical perspective 319
- Inference crisscross: Disentangling evidence, stance and (inter)subjectivity in Yucatec Maya 346
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Part V: Theoretical perspectives
- Epistemic modality and evidentiality from an enunciative perspective 383
- About Contributors 403
- Author Index 409
- Subject Index 414
- Language Index 421
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- Editorial Preface vii
- List of Contributors ix
-
Part I: Germanic languages
- Epistemic modality, Danish modal verbs and the tripartition of utterances 3
- Epistemic evaluation in factual contexts in English 22
- SHOULD in Conditional Clauses: When Epistemicity Meets Appreciative Modality 52
-
Part II: Romance languages
- Epistemic modality and evidentiality in Romance: the Reportive Conditional 69
- Epistemic modality and perfect morphology in Spanish and French 103
- Anchoring evidential, epistemic and beyond in discourse: alào, vantér and vér in Noirmoutier island (Poitevin-Saintongeais) 131
- A prosody account of (inter)subjective modal adverbs in Spanish 153
- French expressions of personal opinion: je crois / pense / trouve / estime / considère que p 179
- Mirative extensions in Romance: evidential or epistemic? 196
- The Italian epistemic future and Russian epistemic markers as linguistic manifestations of conjectural conclusion: a comparative analysis 217
- Epistemic modality, evidentiality, quotativity and echoic use 242
- Evidentiality, epistemic modality and negation in Lithuanian: revisited 259
-
Part IV: Non Indo-European languages
- Two kinds of epistemic modality in Hungarian 281
- Epistemic modalities in spoken Tibetan 296
- Intersubjectification revisited: a cross-categorical perspective 319
- Inference crisscross: Disentangling evidence, stance and (inter)subjectivity in Yucatec Maya 346
-
Part V: Theoretical perspectives
- Epistemic modality and evidentiality from an enunciative perspective 383
- About Contributors 403
- Author Index 409
- Subject Index 414
- Language Index 421
