Evidentiality

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Definition

Evidentiality is a way of marking epistemic modality, i.e. how we know something is true. Some languages grammaticise evidentiality (mark it in their verb system).

Example

Turkmen, for example, has four levels of evidentiality - direct, inferred, assumed, and reported. These are marked in the following way:

al-dy 's/he took'; al-ypdyr 's/he took (but I didn't see it)'; alan eken 's/he apparently took'; al-anmyş 'it is rumoured that s/he took'.

It is important to use these correctly, otherwise the wrong impression can be conveyed.

Other languages

• German Evidentialität

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