Aikhenvald, A.Y. (2006) Evidentiality in grammar. In: Brown, Keith, (ed.) Encyclopedia of Languages and Linguistics. Elsevier, Oxford, UK, pp. 320-325.

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Abstract

[Extract] Evidentiality is a grammatical category that has source of information as its primary meaning – whether the narrator actually saw what is being described, or made inferences about it based on some evidence, or was told about it, etc. Languages vary in how many information sources have to be marked. Many just mark information reported by someone else; others distinguish firsthand and nonfirsthand information sources. In rarer instances, visually obtained data are contrasted with data obtained through hearing and smelling, and through various kinds of inference. As Boas (1938: 133) put it, "while for us definiteness, number, and time are obligatory aspects, we find in another language location near the speaker or somewhere else, source of information – whether seen, heard, or inferred – as obligatory aspects." The terms 'verificational' and 'validational' are sometimes used in place of 'evidential.' French linguists employ the term 'mediative' (Guentche´va, 1996). The term 'evidential' was first introduced by Jakobson (1957). A summary of work on recognizing this category, and naming it, is in Jacobsen (1986) and Aikhenvald (2004).

Research Background: This article offers a concise and encyclopaedic summary of evidentiality as a grammatical category that has source of information as its primary meaning – whether the narrator actually saw what is being described, or made inferences about it based on some evidence, or was told about it, etc. Languages vary in how many information sources have to be marked. Many just mark information reported by someone else; others distinguish firsthand and nonfirsthand information sources. In rarer instances, visually obtained data are contrasted with data obtained through hearing and smelling, and through various kinds of inference. Based on seminal work by Aikhenvald and her predecessors, this article outlines the major parameters of variation of marking information source in the languages of the world, and its cultural and cognitive implications.

Research Contribution: The main contribution of this article is the formulation of parameters of variation and semantics of devices used for marking information source across several hundred of the world's languages. The article provides original insights into human categorization of sources of perception, reasoning and inference, and culturally relevant parameters of categorization, which may also be influenced by social and physical environment.

Research Significance: This article is part of the Encyclopaedia of Languages and Linguistics, a major reference source in the area of linguistics, languages and cognitive and behavioural studies. This article breaks new grounds in offering a comprehensive empirically based approach to human categorization of cognitive processes and perception, and correlations between language and culture. It is widely quoted and considered a major reference for the typology of information source.

Item ID:	9362
Item Type:	Book Chapter (Reference)
ISBN:	978-0-08-044299-0
Date Deposited:	06 Jul 2010 02:30
FoR Codes:	20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2004 Linguistics > 200407 Lexicography @ 100%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9502 Communication > 950201 Communication Across Languages and Culture @ 100%
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