Abstract
AbstractEpistemicity in language encompasses various kinds of constructions and expressions that have to do with knowledge-related aspects of linguistic meaning (cf. Grzech, Karolina, Eva Schultze-Berndt and Henrik Bergqvist. 2020c. Knowing in interaction: an introduction.Folia Linguistica[this issue]). It includes some well-established categories, such as evidentiality and epistemic modality (Boye, Kasper. 2012.Epistemic meaning: A crosslinguistic and functional-cognitive study. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton), but also categories that have been less well described to-date. In this paper, I focus on one such category: the marking of epistemic authority, i.e. the encoding of “the right to know or claim” (Stivers, Tanya, Lorenza Mondada & Jakob Steensig. 2011b. Knowledge, morality and affiliation in social interaction. In Stivers et al. 2011a). I explore how the marking of epistemic authority can be documented and analysed in the context of linguistic fieldwork. The discussion is based on a case study of Upper Napo Kichwa, a Quechuan language spoken in the Ecuadorian Amazon that exhibits a rich paradigm of epistemic discourse markers, encoding meanings related to epistemic authority and distribution of knowledge between discourse participants. I describe and appraise the methodology for epistemic fieldwork used in the Upper Napo Kichwa documentation and description project. I give a detailed account of the different tools and methods of data collection, showing their strengths and weaknesses. I also discuss the decisions made at the different stages of the project and their implications for data collection and analysis. In discussing these issues, I extrapolate from the case study, proposing practical solutions for fieldwork-based research on epistemic markers.
Highlights
In Upper Napo Kichwa (Quechuan, Ecuador), epistemic authority markers are not required for the grammaticality of utterances
The discussion is based on a case study of Upper Napo Kichwa, a Quechuan language spoken in the Ecuadorian Amazon that exhibits a rich paradigm of epistemic discourse markers, encoding meanings related to epistemic authority and distribution of knowledge between discourse participants
1 Introduction In Upper Napo Kichwa (Quechuan, Ecuador), epistemic authority markers are not required for the grammaticality of utterances
Summary
In Upper Napo Kichwa (Quechuan, Ecuador), epistemic authority markers are not required for the grammaticality of utterances. The fact that B chooses a different enclitic in each case demonstrates two issues important for the appropriate characterisation of these markers It shows that the difference in meaning between =mi and =tá cannot be characterised in terms of evidentiality, as could be suggested by the fact that cognates of =mi in other Quechuan varieties have been analysed as evidentials Examples (1) and (2) demonstrate that =mi and =tá can felicitously occur in near-identical contexts This suggests that the differences in situational and epistemic context that condition the use of the enclitics are so fine-grained that they are not evident at first glance. In order to achieve these aims, the paper details the steps of the research process undertaken in the description and analysis of epistemic discourse markers in Upper Napo Kichwa. I comment on the theoretical and practical issues related to epistemic research design, both in Upper Napo Kichwa and more generally (Section 5)
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