Markers of Evidentiality in Chinese Scientific Discourse

Abstract

Our study is devoted to the analysis of the category of evidentiality and the identification of its markers in Chinese scientific discourse. At the beginning of the article, we present a brief literature review of previous researches on a topic of evidentiality on the material of various languages ​​in Russian, Western, and Chinese linguistics. The category of evidentiality refers to the linguistic category, which expresses an indication of the source of information. The study examines various interpretations of the category of evidentiality and its types, depending on the method of obtaining information and the source of this information. We consider the definitions of direct and indirect evidentiality. Further, the study analyzes in detail indirect evidentiality with the meaning of retelling, quotation, as the most demanded in scientific discourse. Evidential markers in the article are defined as linguistic means of expressing indirect evidentiality in Chinese, indicating the source of information, and their implementation in scientific discourse. In the process of analyzing the Chinese texts of the scientific discourse, we identify the following lexical components of various structures as markers of evidentiality: mental action verbs, speech act verbs, speech act verbs with prepositions, preposition + person identification structures, idioms chengyu. In conclusion, we emphasize the theoretical and practical significance of this study, outline the research prospects.