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Article published In:
Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 14:3 (2023) ► pp.484–508

Evidential meanings in native and learner Japanese and English

Implications for the assessment of speaker certainty

ORCID logo | University of California Davis
| University of East Anglia
| University of East Anglia

Evidentiality is a linguistic category that comprises forms and meanings related to the source of information in utterances, the use of which may impact judgments about the degree of certainty expressed by a speaker. The main dichotomy is first-hand (direct) vs. second-hand (indirect) evidence. This distinction is grammaticalised in Japanese only, though certain related meanings can be expressed in English lexically or constructionally. The relevant forms in both languages also function as indirectness-for-politeness markers. We used a judgments elicitation task and found that statements with Japanese evidentials (both first- and second-hand) and with English markers of uncertainty lead to judgments of lower certainty than the statements without the evidential forms and meanings for the majority, but not for all speakers. In addition, monolingual and bilingual usage in both languages has parallels such that these two typologically distinct languages appear closer and certainty judgments by their speakers similar.

Keywords: certainty, English, evidentiality, indirectness, Japanese, judgments; L1, L2, translation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Evidential meanings in Japanese and English
    • 2.1Evidential forms and meanings in the two languages
    • 2.2L1 vs. L2 usage patterns: Similarities and differences
  • 3.Effects of language(s) on judgments
  • 4.Current study
    • 4.1Hypotheses
    • 4.2Design
    • 4.3Participants
    • 4.4Procedure
    • 4.5Results
    • 4.6Data analysis
  • 5.Implications for social contexts of language use
  • 6.Caveats, conclusions and future directions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 May 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.20089.fil
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