Skip to main content
Article
On the Syntax and Semantics of Evidentials
Language and Linguistics Compass (2008)
  • Peggy Speas, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Abstract

In some languages, every declarative sentence includes a morpheme specifying the speaker's evidence or source of information. This article provides an overview of the central theoretical questions addressed in recent research on Evidential morphemes. First, I discuss the question of whether Evidentials constitute a coherent closed-class system, independent of other systems of grammar. Next, I briefly consider the evidence for an Evidential head in the syntactic representation. Finally, I review the ways in which Evidentials resemble and differ from epistemic modals.

Publication Date
2008
Citation Information
Peggy Speas. "On the Syntax and Semantics of Evidentials" Language and Linguistics Compass Vol. 2 Iss. 5 (2008)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/peggy_speas/15/