Evidential Adverbs Research Articles

“You are certainly my best friend” – Translating adverbs of evidential certainty in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Abstract The present article focuses on the analysis of how adverbs of evidential certainty are translated into Romanian in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Drawing on previous work, we argue that adverbs of certainty exhibit different interpretations function of their context of occurrence and their position in the clause. In this analysis, I am going to look at the different translation strategies employed in the ten Romanian translations of the book. We are interested in investigating the differences between the earliest translation and the most recent retranslations. We can safely assume that evidentiality is a universal semantic category that is coded differently in different languages. Therefore, it is going to be interesting to see how the rendering of evidential adverbs into Romanian differs from one translator to another across time. Adverbs of certainty express more often than not a degree of confidence on the part of the speaker alongside the speaker’s attitude toward the content of the sentence.

Evidential Adverbs and Polarity: A Study from Spanish

This paper addresses the analysis of variations in structures that are projected in discourse. Starting with the relationship between evidential adverbs and the affirmative Spanish adverb sí, I review the occurrence of the conjunction que “that” with evidential adverbs, such as naturalmente “naturally”, ciertamente “certainly”, obviamente “obviously”, and evidentemente “evidently” as a Hispanic phenomenon, as well as its value and development in different varieties of Spanish. Although it appears that Latin American Spanish varieties lack an overt que in certain situations, such as sí que contexts or recomplementation, studies of the construction with evidential adverbs in language varieties different from European Spanish remain limited. I use examples extracted from CREA and CORPES XXI. My main objectives are to review the presence of the construction with evidential adverb + que (“that”) in Spanish by paying particular attention to its distribution in Latin American countries and to study the basic uses of the construction in countries in which it is documented.

On evidentiality in American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese


 
 
 This paper discusses the indirect evidential markers dizque in American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese by focusing on the Spanish varieties of Guayaquil (Ecuador) and Lima (Peru), and the Brazilian Portuguese variety of São Paulo (Brazil). I adopt a comparative approach in which I discuss their syntax and semantics. To thoroughly document their properties in a theoretically driven approach, a comprehensive questionnaire building on previous literature was used, and data from five consultants per variety were gathered— fieldwork practices were followed. The purpose of such an approach is to complement previous studies, which have mainly focused on corpora. As for the syntactic properties, I discuss their distribution in connection to a number of different elements, such as modal and evidential adverbs, among many others; the use as an illocutionary evidential is, in general, disallowed in these varieties. As for the semantic properties, I discuss the types of evidence with which these evidentials are compatible, the at-issue vs. not-at-issue distinction and the doubt implication that sentences with these elements normally have. This study attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of these evidentials in these varieties, so that future research can build on it to single out different properties in controlled (e.g., experimental) settings.
 
 

When English complement clauses meet evidential adverbs

There is much literature about the licensing of complement clauses by complement-taking predicates. However, less has been written about the licensing of adverbs in a complement clause. This article addresses the licensing of English evidential adverbs in complement clauses extracted from the NOW corpus. The article discusses three factors that determine the distribution of evidential adverbs in complement clauses. These are the nature of the evidential adverbs, the constraints of the complement clause and the anchor of the evidential adverb. To explore the role of these three factors, I adopt the hierarchical scopal theory of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). If a complement clause licenses the inclusion of the evidential adverb, then there is a match. Should there be no alignment between the complement clause and the adverb, there will be a mismatch. The results of the analysis of the data show that there are mostly matches, which occur with either a current speaker anchor or an actor anchor. Secondly, it appears that in cases of mismatches, there is always a current speaker. It thus appears that a current speaker anchor can override the constraints of the complement clause.

English evidential -lyadverbs in the noun phrase from a functional perspective

AbstractThis article addresses the question of how the distribution and role of English evidential -lyadverbs in the noun phrase can be accounted for using the framework of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). Both adverbs and adjectives occurring in noun phrases are categorized in various ways. The results of the categorization offer insights into the distribution of these adverbs and adjectives. Four generalizations are arrived at concerning the combination of evidential adverbs and adjectives in noun phrases. First, the lower in the FDG hierarchy the category of an adverb, the less frequent the occurrence of that category in the noun phrase. Thus, higher reportative adverbs are very frequent, and lower adverbs of event perception are very infrequent. Second, evidential adverbs do not modify adjectives that express the speaker’s subjective evaluation of the referent. Third, the higher-level reportative and inferential adverbs modify adjectives expressing permanent properties, whereas the lower adverbs of deduction and event perception do not. Finally, neither restrictiveness nor the evaluative vs descriptive nature of the adjective appears to solely determine the category of evidential modification of the adjective. We furthermore discuss the pragmatic effects of the evidential adverb in the noun phrase, such as distancing, and the stress shift that may accompany it.

LINGUISTIC ASPECT OF MODALITY IN MODERN MATH DISCOURSE IN ENGLISH

The article reveals linguistic aspect of modality in modern math discourse in English, critically outlines a number of actual problematic issues in the area, such as the distinction between epistemic modality and evidentiality marked by formal logics philosophical grounding. General reference to previous scholarly activity in math modality research proves that it is largely based on propositional aspects of meaning. The math text corpus analysis aims to extract a set of modalities that are indispensable for formulating modal deductive reasoning. However, from a linguistic perspective academic math discourse requires natural language premise selection in the processes of mathematical reasoning and argumentation. It is presumed that two different self-attention cognition layers are focused at the same time on the proper classical symbolic logic and mathematical elements (formal language), while the other attends to natural language. Defining the semantic meanings of math discourse modality markers involves the interpretation phase. Thus, objectivity is generally associated with evidential adverbs which are markers of the evidence verification concerning the speaker’s assessment of the truth value of the proposition. Modal auxiliaries of high, medium and low modality, semimodal verbs and conditionals involve ascribing a justification value in the set of possible logical inference making. The formal logical structure of mathematical reasoning explains the non-intuitive possibility of a deductive proof. It has been grounded that a linguistic category of modality in math discourse indispensably presupposes the universal truth of knowledge, high level of logical formalization in propositional verification status, formulaic nature of the argumentation, i.e. synthesis of hypothetical preconditions, theoretical knowledge and subjectivity of reasoning leading to a new hypothesis verification and visual exemplification of the empirical deductive processes in particular by linguistic means of modality expression.

The Semantics of Emotive Markers and Other Illocutionary Content

AbstractI identify a class of expressions called ‘emotive markers,’ exemplified by fortunately and alas, which encode not-at-issue information about the speaker’s emotive attitude towards the content of the utterances they occur in. I argue that there are important differences emotive markers and other encoders of not-at-issue content, in particular utterance modifiers like frankly or evidential adverbs like apparently. In contrast to these, emotive markers can result in Moore’s Paradox and always range over their local argument. I conclude that the contribution of emotive markers should be treated as ‘illocutionary content’, on par with the speaker’s other Discourse Commitments (Gunlogson, 2001), and I model this analysis in the dynamic sub-sentential update framework in Farkas & Bruce (2010).

An Analysis of Certainly and Generally in Late-Modern English English History Texts

This paper analyses the adverbs certainly and generally as stancetaking markers. These adverbial devices are said to show authorial stance and to communicate the author’s commitment or detachment towards the information presented, and so they are classified as epistemic adverbs (Alonso-Almeida 2015). For this study, I have selected a corpus of history texts from the Modern English period (1700-1900), as compiled in The Corpus of History English Texts (Crespo and Moskowich 2015), on the basis of which the two evidential adverbs are examined using computer corpus tools, although manual inspection is also employed to assess the meaning of the items in context. The findings suggest that, in this type of scientific articles, the two adverbs are used with differing pragmatic functions, in the case of certainly it functions mostly as a booster and, in the specific case of generally, its use seems to primarily suggest a hedging purpose (Hyland 2005a).

An analysis ofcertainlyandgenerallyin Late-Modern English English history texts

AbstractThis paper analyses the adverbscertainlyandgenerallyas stancetaking markers. These adverbial devices are said to show authorial stance and to communicate the author’s commitment or detachment towards the information presented, and so they are classified as epistemic adverbs (Alonso-Almeida 2015). For this study, I have selected a corpus of history texts from the Modern English period (1700-1900), as compiled inThe Corpus of History English Texts(Crespo and Moskowich 2015), on the basis of which the two evidential adverbs are examined using computer corpus tools, although manual inspection is also employed to assess the meaning of the items in context. The findings suggest that, in this type of scientific articles, the two adverbs are used with differing pragmatic functions, in the case ofcertainlyit functions mostly as a booster and, in the specific case ofgenerally, its use seems to primarily suggest a hedging purpose (Hyland 2005a).

Evidential strategies in receiver-directed talk: The case of English inferential adverbs

The aim of this paper is to examine the types of evidential meaning expressed by clearly and obviously in receiver-directed talk, and to identify their interpersonal functions. It focuses on their uses in utterances containing the second person pronoun subject, excerpted from the British National Corpus. This study demonstrates that clearly and obviously are used to express inference, conjecture, assumption and self-evidence. The four notions can be organised on a cline, each showing a different degree of (inter)subjectivity, which is why this study argues that (inter)subjectification is responsible not only for their development from adverbs of manner into evidential adverbs (which is generally agreed on), but also for the different types of evidential meaning they express. It also argues that self-evidence is a post-evidential meaning of the two adverbs. This paper demonstrates that inferences, conjectures and assumptions function as strategies for eliciting a response from the addressee. Inferences and assumptions serve as prompts; conjectures have a challenging function. Inferences are also used to provide justification for the speech act performed by the speaker, while assumptions prepare the ground for the speaker's talk. Self-evidence is connected with the interpersonal functionality of concurrence and with textual functions performed by the two adverbs.

English Evidential –ly Adverbs in Main Clauses: A Functional Approach

Abstract The present paper examines the distribution of English evidential -ly adverb in the scopal hierarchical framework that was presented by Hengeveld and Dall’Aglio Hattnher (2015) in their results of work on Brazilian grammatical evidentials. The analysis will constitute the categorization of eleven English evidential -ly adverb. The results will determine whether the analysis supports Hengeveld and Dall’Aglio Hattnher’s (2015) conclusion that evidential items with multiple meanings occur in adjacent positions within an FDG Level, and that they can occur on two Levels in the FDG framework. The data which was retrieved from recent UK newspaper articles in the BYU NOW corpus (News on the Web), comprise main clauses modified by an evidential -ly adverb. Categorization of the evidential adverbs in the FDG framework was determined by paraphrasing, and by applying diagnostic scope criteria. For the eleven evidential -ly adverbs studied, it is shown that non-reportative evidential adverbs with multiple meanings occur at adjacent FDG layers at the Representational Level, and that two adverbs occur at both the Interpersonal and the Representational Level.

Adverbs as evidentials: an English-Spanish contrastive analysis of twelve adverbs in spoken and newspaper discourse

This paper presents a contrastive analysis of six English evidential adverbs ending in -ly with their Spanish nearest translation equivalents, in spoken and newspaper discourse. The adverbs may be associated with varying degrees of reliability: high (clearly/claramente, evidently/evidentemente, obviously/obviamente), medium (apparently/al parecer) and low (seemingly/aparentemente, supposedly/supuestamente). The analysis is based on tokens of authentic language extracted from two contemporary corpora, the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and the Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual (CREA). The qualitative analysis focuses on the evidential functions of the adverbs and on their pragmatic interactional uses; the quantitative analysis centres on the relative frequency of type of evidential functions and the clausal position of the adverbs. The results uncover a number of differences between the English adverbs and their Spanish correlates and also between the two discourse types. Practically all the adverbs are strongly specialized in expressing either indirect-inferential or indirect-reportative evidentiality. English obviously and Spanish evidentemente show a high frequency of cases of loss of evidential meaning due to pragmaticalization, specifically in spoken discourse. Regarding position, the English adverbs are more frequent in medial clausal position, while some Spanish adverbs are often found in the more prominent parenthetical position.

Evidential adverbs in German

AbstractThis article addresses the semantic and morphosyntactic development of the German evidential adverbsoffensichtlich, offenbar, anscheinend, andscheinbar‘obviously’/‘apparently’/‘seemingly’ and their meaning contribution in present-day German. It will be argued that these expressions, most of which are historically derived from adjectives, innovated separate lexical entries as sentence adverbs in New High German resulting from a morphosyntactic reanalysis of an ambiguous surface structure. This reanalysis was accompanied by a profound semantic change, as a result of which the expressions acquired a wide-scope reading of the type ‘there is (clear) evidence that p’. The diachronic results are corroborated by experimental data from Present-Day German that show that these evidential sentence adverbs are underspecified with respect to evidence type (inference and report). The diachronic and synchronic findings are furthermore discussed in the light of grammaticalization and subjectification theory.

Phrase Structure Patterning and Licensing for English and Serbian Speaker-Oriented Adverb Subclasses

Abstract This paper attempts to set phrase structure rules for English and Serbian speaker-oriented adverb subclasses. Adverbs are looked at here as specifiers licensed by the semantic feature [ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE]. The results suggest that illocutionary, evaluative and evidential adverbs normally merge within the complementizer layer and the inflectional layer, and that English epistemic adverbs are in most cases preferably integrated into the inflectional layer, whereas Serbian epistemic adverbs tend to occur in the sentence-initial position.

Evidentiality and the expression of speaker’s stance in Romance languages and German

In recent years, the category of evidentiality has also come into use for the description of Romance languages and of German. This has been contingent on a change in its interpretation from a typological category to a semantic-pragmatic category, which allows an application to languages lacking specialised morphemes for the expression of evidentiality. We consider evidentiality to be a structural dimension of grammar, the values of which are expressed by types of constructions that code the source of information which a speaker imparts. If we look at the situation in Romance languages and in German, drawing a boundary between epistemic modality and evidentiality presents problems that are difficult to solve. Adding markers of the source of the speaker’s knowledge often limits the degree of responsibility of the speaker for the content of the utterance. Evidential adverbs are a frequently used means of marking the source of the speaker’s knowledge. The evidential meaning is generalised to marking any source of knowledge, what can be regarded as a result of a process of pragmaticalisation. The use of certain means which also carry out evidential markings can even contribute to the blurring of the different kinds of evidentiality. German also has modal verbs which in conjunction with the perfect tense of the verb have a predominantly evidential use ( sollen and wollen). But even here the evidential marking is not without influence on the modality of the utterance. The Romance languages, however, do not have such specialised verbs for expressing evidentiality in certain contexts. To do this, they mark evidentiality – often context bound – by verb forms such as the conditional and the imperfect tense. This article shall contrast the different architectures used in expressing evidentiality in German and in the Romance languages.

Text Type Classification in the Japanese Language

This paper deals with some recent approaches to Japanese text classification within the framework of Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics. Text types differ according to the properties of their respective field, tenor and mode. Classification approaches usually center on field properties as reflected in content words and their distribution in texts. On the other hand, approaches introduced in the present paper are based on evidential-modal meanings, expressed by evidential adverbs and sentence-final auxiliary evidential-modal expressions.

Les Adverbes d'énonciation. Comment les définir et les sous-classifier ?

General works on adverbs, but also textbook grammars in their chapter on this part of speech, all recognise a category whose most neutral label, theoretically speaking, is that of“utterance-level adverbs”. The most representative of these are the adverbs franchement( “frankly”), honnêtement ( “honestly”), sincèrement ( “sincerely”), etc. These works also agreeon the over all definition of the category : these are adverbs which serve to refer to theparticular conditions of production of a speaker’s utterance. Within this category ofutterance-level adverbs, which in large part is constituted differentially in relation to the others, we argue for the following semantic sub-categories : 1. Adverbs denoting the speaker’s psychological or moral stance with respect to the addressee. For example, franchement, honnêtement, sincèrement, entre nous ( “between youand me”), etc. 2. Adverbs expressing some kind of comment by the speaker on the make-up of theutterance (e.g. concrètement ( “concretely”), objectivement ( “objectively”), en clair( “specifically”), en gros ( “in general terms”), etc.). 3. Adverbs having to do with the source of the information at issue : 3.1. Adverbs of personal opinion (e.g. à mon avis ( “in my opinion”), à mon sens ( “in myview”), à mon sentiment ( “what I feel is...”), etc.). 3.2. Modally-distancing adverbs (e.g. autant que je sache ( “as far as I know”), à ma connnaissance ( “to my knowledge”), si j’ai bonne mémoire ( “if I remember rightly”), sauf erreurde ma part ( “if I’m not mistaken”), etc.). 3.3. Evidential adverbs (e.g. à ce que j’ai entendu dire ( “from what I’ve heard”), à ce qu’on raconte ( “from what they say”), de source (sûre + bien informée + diplomatique) ( “fromreliable/well-informed/diplomatic sources”), etc. 3.4. Individuating adverbs (e.g. personnellement ( “personally”), en ce qui me concerne ( “as faras I’m concerned”), pour ma part ( “for my part”)). In this article, we list and briefly summarise this set of forms.

Semantic Description of Evaluative and Evidential adverbs in Korean

Semantic Description of Evaluative and Evidential adverbs in Korean