General knowledge as an evidential category

Numerous studies have dealt with the coding of information sources within and across languages. These studies have shown that despite the significant differences in the number of formally distinct evidentiality categories, languages tend to have grammaticalized markers for certain information sources, but not for others; different kinds of sensory perception, inference, assumption and hearsay evidence are among those information sources that receive explicit coding. In this paper, another evidence type, namely general knowledge, will be examined. It will be shown that general knowledge differs from other information sources in its nature, but it also has features in common with them. In addition, a formal-functional typology of general knowledge coding will be proposed based on the nature of the element used for this purpose. Finally, the rationale behind the discussed types and the central theoretical implications of the paper will be discussed. The attested types either stress the peculiar nature of general knowledge providing evidence for its independent information source status, or they emphasize the common features shared by general knowledge and other information sources, most notably reliability of information.Peer reviewe

Evidentiality

Peer reviewe

Tongue-tied: Rawls, political philosophy and metalinguistic awareness

Is our moral cognition “colored” by the language(s) that we speak? Despite the centrality of language to political life and agency, limited attempts have been made thus far in contemporary political philosophy to consider this possibility. We therefore set out to explore the possible influence of linguistic relativity effects on political thinking in linguistically diverse societies. We begin by introducing the facts and fallacies of the “linguistic relativity” principle, and explore the various ways in which they “color,” often covertly, current normative debates. To illustrate this, we focus on two key Rawlsian concepts: the original position and public reason. We then move to consider the resulting epistemic challenges and opportunities facing contemporary multilingual democratic societies in an age of increased mobility, arguing for the consequent imperative of developing political metalinguistic awareness and political extelligence among political scientists, political philosophers, and political actors alike in an irreducibly complex linguistic world

Areaal-tüpoloogiline vaade evidentsiaalsusele Balkani ja Baltikumi keelte andmeil

Uurimus läheneb evidentsiaalsuse mõistele võrdleva keeletüpoloogia perspektiivist, püstitades kolm eesmärki: 1) võrrelda Balkani ja Baltikumi areaali keelte evidentsiaalsussüsteeme ja mõõta nendevahelisi tüpoloogilisi kaugusi, 2) uurida evidentsiaalsuse suhet episteemilise modaalsusega, 3) selgitada, millised on kõige tõenäolisemad partitsiibikujulise evidentsiaalsuse allikad. Bulgaaria, makedoonia, albaania, türgi, eesti, läti ja leedu evidentsiaalsussüsteemide võrdluseks kasutan töös teatud vormilisi, semantilisi ja süntagmaatilisi parameetreid. Võrdluses ilmneb rida implikatsioone evidentsiaalsussüsteemide erinevate tunnuste vahel. Süsteemide omavaheliste tüpoloogiliste kauguste mõõtmiseks kasutan aga van der Auwera (1998) isopleetmeetodit. Meetod aitab tuvastada erinevaid sarnasusklastreid, millest kõige huvipakkuvam hõlmab bulgaaria, makedoonia, türgi ja leedu evidentsiaalsussüsteeme. Töö põhijäreldus teise eesmärgi osas on see, et evidentsiaalsus ja episteemiline modaalsus on ontoloogiliselt seotud kategooriad, mis omakorda annab võimaluse nende käsitlemiseks ühise kategooria raames. Kolmanda eesmärgi saavutamiseks esitan uusi empiirilisi andmeid, mis näitavad, et eesti keele evidentsiaalne mineviku partitsiip on tekkinud kas kõnelemist tähistavaid verbe laiendava partitsiiptarindi desubordineerimise kaudu või verbi liitvormi abiverbi väljajätu kaudu, kuid see ei ole jäänuk verbi käändeliste vormide kasutusest predikaadina algkeeles.Approaching the category of evidentiality from a comparative typological perspective, this thesis sets itself three specific goals: 1) to compare the evidentiality systems of the languages of the Balkan and Baltic linguistic areas and to measure the typological distances between them, 2) to contribute in solving the problem concerning the relationship between the category of evidentiality and the category of epistemic modality, and 3) to show which are the most probable scenarios for the historical development of the evidentiality coding based on participles. The first task is fulfilled by applying a set of formal, semantic and syntagmatic parameters to the comparison of the evidentiality systems of Bulgarian, Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian. The comparison reveals several implications between the features of these evidentiality systems. The typological distances between these evidentiality systems are measured using van der Auwera’s (1998) isopleth method, and the relevant results show that the evidentiality systems of Bulgarian, Macedonian, Turkish and Lithuanian are very similar. The results with regard the second goal of the thesis suggest that evidentiality and epistemic modality are inherently related categories and could be accounted for by a single parent category. As for the third goal, new empirical evidence shows that the evidential coding based on past participles in Estonian derives either from de-subordination of speech complements, or from auxiliary ellipsis in compound past tense, but not from the ancient use of participles as predicates

'In short tyme it wil heale the sore'. A relevance perspective of promising in medical utilitarian texts of the earl y modern english period

Medical recipes written before the birth of modern scientific writing, at least as we know it today, are frequently characterised by the inclusion of expressions aimed at validating the efficacy of the remedies. These expressions have been traditionally considered as promises of efficacy. This research hypothesises that a closer examination of the context in which they are embedded may render interpretations that are different from promissory speech acts in the strictest sense. The corpus of study has been excerpted from the Corpus of Early English Recipesand it comprises medical recipes written in English between 1500 and 1600. The texts have been analysed using AntConc and the results have been manually checked afterwards. The detection of potential promises of efficacy has relied on Speech Act Theory and particularly on Searle¿s (1969) constitutive rules for promises. Relevance Theory (Sperber and Wilson 1995) has been used to account for the process of contextual enrichment the reader follows so as to derive the illocutionary force of efficacy statements. This work shows that not all efficacy statements are necessarily interpreted as promises in the Searlean sense. In fact, it has been observed that the occurrence of stance elements, i.e. epistemic and/or evidential devices, together with the authors¿ lexico-grammatical choices crucially shape their illocutionary force, normally by lowering the promissory value of the locutions.Quintana Toledo, E. (2020). 'In short tyme it wil heale the sore'. A relevance perspective of promising in medical utilitarian texts of the earl y modern english period. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/136916EDITORIA

Evidentiality, egophoricity and engagement

The expression of knowledge in language (i.e. epistemicity) consists of a number of distinct notions and proposed categories that are only partly related to a well explored forms like epistemic modals. The aim of the volume is therefore to contribute to the ongoing exploration of epistemic marking systems in lesser-documented languages from the Americas, Papua New Guinea, and Central Asia from the perspective of language description and cross-linguistic comparison. As the title of the volume suggests, part of this exploration consists of situating already established notions (such as evidentiality) with the diversity of systems found in individual languages. Epistemic forms that feature in the present volume include ones that signal how speakers claim knowledge based on perceptual-cognitive access (evidentials); the speaker’s involvement as a basis for claiming epistemic authority (egophorics); the distribution of knowledge between the speech-participants where the speaker signals assumptions about the addressee’s knowledge of an event as either shared, or non-shared with the speaker (engagement marking)

The Grammar of Knowledge: a cross-linguistic typology

The Grammar of Knowledge offers both a linguistic and anthropological perspective on the expression of information sources, as well as inferences, assumptions, probability and possibility, and gradations of doubt and beliefs in a range of languages. The book investigates twelve different languages, from families including Tibeto-Burman, Nakh-Dagestani, and Austronesian, all of which share the property of requiring the source of information to be specified in every sentence. In these languages, it may not be possible to say merely that 'the man went fishing'. Instead, the source of evidence for the statement must also be specified, usually through the use of evidential markers. For example, it may be necessary to indicate whether the speaker saw the man go fishing; has simply assumed that the man went fishing; or was told that he went fishing by a third party. Some languages, such as Hinuq and Tatar, distinguish between first-hand and non first-hand information sources; others, such as Ersu, mark three distinct types of information - directly required, inferred or assumed, and reported. Some require an even greater level of specification: Ashéninka Perené, from South America, has a specific marker to express suspicions or misgivings. Like others in the series, the book illustrates and examines these aspects of language in different cultural and linguistic settings. It will interest linguists of all persuasions as well as linguistically-minded anthropologists

The Grammar of Knowledge: a cross-linguistic typology

The Grammar of Knowledge offers both a linguistic and anthropological perspective on the expression of information sources, as well as inferences, assumptions, probability and possibility, and gradations of doubt and beliefs in a range of languages. The book investigates twelve different languages, from families including Tibeto-Burman, Nakh-Dagestani, and Austronesian, all of which share the property of requiring the source of information to be specified in every sentence. In these languages, it may not be possible to say merely that 'the man went fishing'. Instead, the source of evidence for the statement must also be specified, usually through the use of evidential markers. For example, it may be necessary to indicate whether the speaker saw the man go fishing; has simply assumed that the man went fishing; or was told that he went fishing by a third party. Some languages, such as Hinuq and Tatar, distinguish between first-hand and non first-hand information sources; others, such as Ersu, mark three distinct types of information - directly required, inferred or assumed, and reported. Some require an even greater level of specification: Ashéninka Perené, from South America, has a specific marker to express suspicions or misgivings. Like others in the series, the book illustrates and examines these aspects of language in different cultural and linguistic settings. It will interest linguists of all persuasions as well as linguistically-minded anthropologists