Publications

Publication details [#59760]

Gawne, Lauren. 2015. The reported speech evidential particle in Lamjung Yolmo. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 38 (2) : 292–318.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins
Journal DOI
10.1075/ltba

Annotation

Grammatically encoded evidentials that marks ‘reported speech’, ‘hearsay’ or ‘quotation’ are attested in languages from a variety of families, but often receive cursory description. This paper gives a detailed account of the reported speech particle ló in Lamjung Yolmo, a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal. This particle is used when the speaker is reporting previously communicated information. This information may be translated from another language, may be a non-verbal interaction turn or may have been an incomplete utterance. Speakers choose to use the reported speech particle in interaction, and the pragmatic effect is usually to add authority to the propositional content. Detailed description of the use of reported speech evidentials in interaction across different languages will provide a better understanding of the range of their function.