Abstract
Evidentiality is “grammatical marking of how we know something” (Aikhenvald 2014:3). As evidentiality is a well-known feature in many Nakh-Daghestanian languages, this paper investigates the expression of evidential meanings in Lezgi, a language which has received less attention in this area. This paper compares evidential meanings of verb forms with the existing findings in a related language, Aghul (Majsak & Merdanova 2002a), and then considers other ways of conveying evidential meanings non-lexically. The language data were collected through elicitation and study of natural texts. Following Aikhenvald (2004), semantic labels were established for different evidential meanings.Regarding indirect evidentiality, the Lezgi Perfect was found to display the meaning of inference, thus largely coinciding with the inferential use of the Aghul Resultative. In addition, a verb construction involving a nominalized predicative and an equative particle conveys the meaning of inference accompanied by epistemic uncertainty. The Lezgi Aorist is in general evidentially neutral, but can acquire readings of direct, witnessed information source, accompanied by the modal meaning of reliability. However, the opposition displayed in Aghul between witnessed and reported meanings does not find reflection in the Lezgi past tense forms.In the area of speech reports, evidential meanings can be displayed in Lezgi by two markers, originating from the speech verb luhun: a grammaticalised clitic expressing hearsay, and a converb form expressing the meaning of quotative. Discourse particles display evidential and mirative meanings.
Highlights
Evidentiality is a linguistic phenomenon which Aikhenvald (2014:3) defines as “grammatical marking of how we know something”: whether by seeing, hearing, inferring or through someone else’s report
Majsak and Merdanova (2002a:7-8) state that the form is located at the intersection of evidentiality and epistemic modality in that the inferential meaning is accompanied by a “subjective” epistemic evaluation by the speaker, and they call this a meaning of “weakened” inference
When Majsak and Merdanova (2002a:6-7) discuss the paths of development of the Aghul forms of Aorist and Perfect, they suggest that the Perfect conveying the resultative meaning has developed to cover first an inferential meaning, and it is in the process of developing into a non-witnessed past
Summary
Evidentiality is a linguistic phenomenon which Aikhenvald (2014:3) defines as “grammatical marking of how we know something”: whether by seeing, hearing, inferring or through someone else’s report. In some languages evidentiality occurs as a category in its own right where the primary meaning of a grammatical marker is information source (Aikhenvald 2004:1).. I will present a summary of evidential meanings of verb suffixes in Aghul primarily on the basis of Majsak and Merdanova’s (2002a) paper (section 3), as their findings constitute the starting point for my own research on similar phenomena in Lezgi. This will be followed by a discussion on what my research shows about evidentiality and verb affixes (section 4), and other verbal markers (section 5). 120 examples were elicited, containing sentences spontaneously created by the language consultants
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