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Article published In:
Evidentiality, Modality and Grammaticalization
Edited by Eric Mélac
[Studies in Language 48:3] 2024
► pp. 543–574
 

Speaking about knowledge

Evidentiality and the ecology of language

ORCID logo | Central Queensland University

We focus on the grammatical expression of four major groups of meanings related to knowledge: I. Evidentiality: grammatical expression of information source; II. Egophoricity: grammatical expression of access to knowledge; III. Mirativity: grammatical expression of expectation of knowledge; and IV. Epistemic modality: grammatical expression of attitude to knowledge. The four groups of categories interact. Some develop overtones of the others. Epistemic-directed evidentials have additional meanings typical of epistemic modalities, while egophoricity-directed evidentials combine some reference to access to knowledge by speaker and addressee. Over the past thirty years, new evidential choices have evolved among the Tariana – whose language has five evidential terms in an egophoricity-directed system – to reflect new ways of acquiring information, including radio, television, phone, and internet. Evidentials stand apart from other means of knowledge-related categories as tokens of language ecology corroborated by their sensitivity to the changing social environment.

Keywords: evidentiality, information source, epistemic modality, mirativity, egophoricity, Tariana, language ecology
Article outline
  • 1.Knowledge through grammar: A starting point
    • I.Evidentiality: Grammatical expression of information source, that is how one knows what one is talking about
    • II.Egophoricity: Grammatical expression of preferential access to knowledge
    • III.Mirativity: Grammaticalised expression of expectation of knowledge
    • IV.Epistemic modality: Grammaticalised expression of attitude to knowledge – whether certain, uncertain, probable, possible, reliable, or unreliable
  • 2.The web of knowledge: Interrelationships between the four groups of knowledge-related meanings
    • 2.1Egophoricity-directed evidentials
    • 2.2Mirativity-directed evidentials
    • 2.3Epistemic-directed evidentials
  • 3.How evidentials are special
  • 4.In with the new: Evidentials in the changing world
  • 5.To conclude: Evidentials as tokens of the ecology of language
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 17 November 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.23004.aik
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