• search hit 1 of 1
Back to Result List

Evidentiality and the expression of speaker’s stance in Romance languages and German

  • In recent years, the category of evidentiality has also come into use for the description of Romance languages and of German. This has been contingent on a change in its interpretation from a typological category to a semantic-pragmatic category, which allows an application to languages lacking specialised morphemes for the expression of evidentiality. We consider evidentiality to be a structural dimension of grammar, the values of which are expressed by types of constructions that code the source of information which a speaker imparts. If we look at the situation in Romance languages and in German, drawing a boundary between epistemic modality and evidentiality presents problems that are difficult to solve. Adding markers of the source of the speaker's knowledge often limits the degree of responsibility of the speaker for the content of the utterance. Evidential adverbs are a frequently used means of marking the source of the speaker's knowledge. The evidential meaning is generalised to marking any source of knowledge, what can beIn recent years, the category of evidentiality has also come into use for the description of Romance languages and of German. This has been contingent on a change in its interpretation from a typological category to a semantic-pragmatic category, which allows an application to languages lacking specialised morphemes for the expression of evidentiality. We consider evidentiality to be a structural dimension of grammar, the values of which are expressed by types of constructions that code the source of information which a speaker imparts. If we look at the situation in Romance languages and in German, drawing a boundary between epistemic modality and evidentiality presents problems that are difficult to solve. Adding markers of the source of the speaker's knowledge often limits the degree of responsibility of the speaker for the content of the utterance. Evidential adverbs are a frequently used means of marking the source of the speaker's knowledge. The evidential meaning is generalised to marking any source of knowledge, what can be regarded as a result of a process of pragmaticalisation. The use of certain means which also carry out evidential markings can even contribute to the blurring of the different kinds of evidentiality. German also has modal verbs which in conjunction with the perfect tense of the verb have a predominantly evidential use (sollen and wollen). But even here the evidential marking is not without influence on the modality of the utterance. The Romance languages, however, do not have such specialised verbs for expressing evidentiality in certain contexts. To do this, they mark evidentiality - often context bound - by verb forms such as the conditional and the imperfect tense. This article shall contrast the different architectures used in expressing evidentiality in German and in the Romance languages.show moreshow less

Download full text files

Export metadata

Additional Services

Search Google Scholar Statistics
Metadaten
Author details:Gerda HaßlerORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-404492
ISSN:1866-8380
Title of parent work (English):Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe
Publication series (Volume number):Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe (138)
Publication type:Postprint
Language:English
Date of first publication:2018/04/17
Publication year:2015
Publishing institution:Universität Potsdam
Release date:2018/04/17
Tag:adverbs; evidentiality; modal verbs; modality; pragmaticalisation
Issue:138
Number of pages:28
Source:Discourse Studies 17 (2015) 2, S. 182–209 DOI 10.1177/1461445614564522
Organizational units:Philosophische Fakultät
DDC classification:4 Sprache / 40 Sprache / 400 Sprache
Peer review:Referiert
Publishing method:Open Access
Grantor:Sage
License (German):License LogoKeine öffentliche Lizenz: Unter Urheberrechtsschutz
External remark:Bibliographieeintrag der Originalveröffentlichung/Quelle
Accept ✔
This website uses technically necessary session cookies. By continuing to use the website, you agree to this. You can find our privacy policy here.