Chapter published in:
Perspectives on Evidentiality in Spanish: Explorations across genresEdited by Carolina Figueras Bates and Adrián Cabedo Nebot
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 290] 2018
► pp. 25–48
On the dynamicity of evidential scales
Pragmatic indirectness in evidentiality as a rhetorical strategy in academic and political discourse
Maria Estellés | University of Valencia. Val.Es.Co Research Group
Marta Albelda | University of Valencia. Val.Es.Co Research Group
Based on examples from academic papers and parliamentary debates in Spain, the present paper studies a particular phenomenon within evidentiality, which is called ‘pragmatic indirectness’ in this work. This phenomenon involves examples in which evidentiality is expressed formally in a certain way (for instance, it is presented as reporting someone else’s words), but where the meaning conveys a different kind of evidentiality (for example, it is actually obtained through a process of reasoning). The existence of this phenomenon can be explained by the facts that
- Evidentials are organised according to scales: some evidentials are considered more preferable than are others, as the degrees of preference are changeable and determined contextually; and
-
Speakers accommodate their discourse to these scales (more or less) strategically, depending on their intentions and goals, as well as on the expectations raised by the context; and they do so by
- Choosing the evidence best ranked in a particular context and, if not available,
- By concealing the (less preferable) evidence they have available in the guise of evidentials located higher in the ranking.
Keywords: evidentiality, Spanish, genres, indirectness
Published online: 24 July 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.290.02est
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.290.02est
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Cabedo Nebot, Adrián & Carolina Figueras Bates
Estellés Arguedas, Maria
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