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The Grammar of Knowledge: A Cross-Linguistic Typology

Online ISBN:
9780191770593
Print ISBN:
9780198701316
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Grammar of Knowledge: A Cross-Linguistic Typology

Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (ed.),
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
(ed.)

Distinguished Professor, Australian Laureate Fellow, and Director of the Language and Culture Research Centre

Distinguished Professor, Australian Laureate Fellow, and Director of the Language and Culture Research Centre, James Cook University
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R. M. W. Dixon (ed.)
R. M. W. Dixon
(ed.)

Adjunct Professor and Deputy Director of the Language and Culture Research Centre

Adjunct Professor and Deputy Director of the Language and Culture Research Centre, James Cook University
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Published online:
16 April 2014
Published in print:
27 February 2014
Online ISBN:
9780191770593
Print ISBN:
9780198701316
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book offers both a linguistic and anthropological perspective on the expression of information sources, as well as inferences, assumptions, probability and possibility, and gradations of doubt and beliefs in a range of languages. Twelve different languages are investigated, from families including Tibeto-Burman, Nakh-Dagestani, and Austronesian, all of which share the property of requiring the source of information to be specified in every sentence. In these languages, it may not be possible to say merely that ‘the man went fishing’. Instead, the source of evidence for the statement must also be specified, usually through the use of evidential markers. For example, it may be necessary to indicate whether the speaker saw the man go fishing; has simply assumed that the man went fishing; or was told that he went fishing by a third party. Some languages, such as Hinuq and Tatar, distinguish between first-hand and non first-hand information sources; others, such as Ersu, mark three distinct types of information – directly required, inferred or assumed, and reported. Some require an even greater level of specification: Ashéninka Perené, from South America, has a specific marker to express suspicions or misgivings.

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