Foregrounding evidentiality in (English) academic discourse: Patterned co-occurrences of the sensory perception verbs seem and appear
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Anita Fetzer
Anita Fetzer is a Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Augsburg, Germany. She is currently engaged in research projects on follow-ups in political discourse, and the linguistic representation of discourse relations. Her research interests focus on context, functional grammar, contrastive analysis, and modality and evidentiality. She has had a series of articles published on rejections, context, and political discourse. Her most recent publications areThe pragmatics of political discourse (2013),Contexts and context: parts meets whole (2011, with Etsuko Oishi), andContext and appropriateness (2007).
Abstract
This paper examines the distribution, patterned co-occurrences and function of the sensory perception verbs appear and seem and the three English modal auxiliaries can, may and must in the context of written academic discourse, concentrating on their contribution to the expression of evidentiality and epistemic modality. It is based on the premise that epistemic modality and evidentiality are different: the former refers to a category in which some hypothetical state of affairs is indexed and evaluated; the latter refers to a visual, sensorial, hearsay or inferential mode of knowing. The methodological framework is an integrated one, combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies to filter out discourse patterns which may contribute to the fore- and backgrounding of evidential meaning. Patterned co-occurrences of nevertheless and thus with appear and seem and can, may and must are assigned the status of a salient discourse pattern in and through which evidential meaning is foregrounded.
About the author
Anita Fetzer is a Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Augsburg, Germany. She is currently engaged in research projects on follow-ups in political discourse, and the linguistic representation of discourse relations. Her research interests focus on context, functional grammar, contrastive analysis, and modality and evidentiality. She has had a series of articles published on rejections, context, and political discourse. Her most recent publications are The pragmatics of political discourse (2013), Contexts and context: parts meets whole (2011, with Etsuko Oishi), and Context and appropriateness (2007).
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Evidentiality in discourse
- Foregrounding evidentiality in (English) academic discourse: Patterned co-occurrences of the sensory perception verbs seem and appear
- Constructing evidence at Prime Minister's Question Time: An analysis of the grammar, semantics and pragmatics of the verb see
- Evidential embellishment in political debates during US campaigns
- Evidentiality, intersubjectivity and salience in Spanish and Catalan markers claro/clar and la verdad/veritat
- Evidentials in entextualization
- Evidentiality and illocution
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Evidentiality in discourse
- Foregrounding evidentiality in (English) academic discourse: Patterned co-occurrences of the sensory perception verbs seem and appear
- Constructing evidence at Prime Minister's Question Time: An analysis of the grammar, semantics and pragmatics of the verb see
- Evidential embellishment in political debates during US campaigns
- Evidentiality, intersubjectivity and salience in Spanish and Catalan markers claro/clar and la verdad/veritat
- Evidentials in entextualization
- Evidentiality and illocution
