Inferential Markers Research Articles

The emergence of the Ladakhi inferential and experiential markers from a marker for admirativity (non-commitment): the case ofḥdugandsnaŋ

AbstractThe Ladakhi inferential markers /-suk/ ~ /-sok/ and /-tok/ ~ /-tuk/ can be shown to be related to the Old and Classical Tibetan verbḥdug, originally a lexical verb with the meaning ‘stay, live, sit’. The development ofḥduginto auxiliaries for the opposite evidential values of external direct knowledge (or immediate sense perception) and of indirect knowledge (or inferences) in various modern Tibetic dialects has a parallel in the development of the Classical Tibetan verbsnaŋ, originally ‘shine, appear’ into auxiliaries for both direct and indirect knowledge in some Balti and Ladakhi varieties. This parallel development indicates that the dominant factor underlying the choice of the auxiliaries is not a question of sources of knowledge and access channels (evidentiality) but a speaker’s attitude of commitment or non-commitment (admirativity)

Epistemic and evidential markers in the rhetorical context of concession

This article examines the emergence and degree of stabilisation of the contextual values developed by epistemic and evidential markers in the polyphonic sequence of concession. By investigating a Romanian oral and written corpus, we analyse the concessive and/or reportative values firstly of two epistemic adverbs used to express the high/low degree of the speaker’s formal commitment (desigur ‘of course’, and poate ‘maybe’), and subsequently of the epistemic (evidential) future (the Romanian ‘presumptive mood’). The latter expresses an intermediate (and variable) degree of commitment, and is a typically inferential evidential that switches to the status of a reportative evidential. The conclusion is that the concessive context (marked by contrast connectors) is a discourse factor which systematically implies an ambiguous commitment, giving rise to a reportative interpretation of epistemic and inferential markers.

The (non)-projective properties of the Japanese counter-expectational intensifier yoppodo

This paper investigates the projective and non-projective properties of the Japanese counter-expectational intensifier yoppodo. Yoppodo has some unique semantic and pragmatic characteristics that ordinary intensifiers do not. In adjectival environments, yoppodo must co-occur with an inferential evidential marker (modal) and infers a high degree via the evidence. It also conventionally implicates that the high degree is above a speaker’s expectation. The interesting feature of yoppodo is that its relationship with an evidential marker is tied up in the issue of projectability. If yoppodo is embedded under an attitude predicate and there is an evidential modal in the embedded clause, then yoppodo’s counter-expectational meaning is subject-oriented. However, if yoppodo is embedded under an attitude predicate and there is an evidential modal in the main clause, then yoppodo’s counter-expectational meaning is speaker-oriented. I argue that the projective property of yoppodo is different from both typical conventional implicatures (e.g., expressives, appositives; see Potts 2005, 2015; Tonhauser et al. 2013) and typical presuppositions, and I claim that it belongs to a new type of projective content, a “dependent projective content.” This paper provides a new perspective for the theories and classification of projective content.

On conditions instantiating tip effects of epistemic and evidential meanings in Bulgarian

The article deals with tip effects between evidential and epistemic components in the meaning potential of evidential markers in Bulgarian, the focus being on sentential adverbs with inferential functions. We justify (and start with) the following assumptions: (i) for any unit we should distinguish its stable semantic meaning from its pragmatic potential which can be favored (or disfavored) by appropriate discourse conditions; (ii) there is a “trade off” between evidential and epistemic meaning components that are related to each other on the basis of mutual or one-sided implicatures; (iii) one-sided implicatures occur with certain hearsay markers whose epistemic implicatures can be captured as Generalized Conversational Implicatures (GCIs). On this basis, we show that (iv) GCIs work also with inferential markers; they can be classified depending on which component (the inferential or the epistemic one) can be downgraded more easily. A crucial factor favoring the inferential meaning is a perceptual basis of the inference. In general, (v) the more complicated the reconstruction of the cognitive (or communicative) basis leading to an inference, the clearer the epistemic function emerges while the evidential function remains in the background, and vice versa. The study is corpus-based and also includes an attempt at classifying micro- and macro-contextual conditions that (dis)favor a highlighting of the evidential function.

Appearances are not skin deep

This paper investigates the functions of a previously neglected collocation, the nominalizer 的 de and the noun 樣子 yàngzi ‘appearance’ (DYZ) in colloquial Mandarin discourse. DYZ is shown to be either denotational or non-denotational. In the denotational use, yàngzi denotes various entity concepts, including bodily appearances, behavioral demeanor, and visual percepts of an event. In the non-denotational use, however, yàngzi does not denote, but instead, in tandem with the nominalizer de, functions as an inferential marker, meaning a grammatical device that indicates inference or assumption on the part of the speaker while at the same time signaling the speaker’s medium epistemic certainty about a statement. The underlying mechanism of recruiting the noun for “appearance” to mark inferentials may be attributable to the widespread conceptualization of basing the epistemology of perception on “how things look” (Lyons 2005).

On Conditions Instantiating Tip Effects of Epistemic and Evidential Meanings in Bulgarian

The article deals with tip effects between evidential and epistemic components in the meaning potential of evidential markers in Bulgarian, the focus being on sentential adverbs with inferential functions. We justify (and start with) the following assumptions: (i) for any unit we should distinguish its stable semantic meaning from its pragmatic potential which can be favored (or disfavored) by appropriate discourse conditions; (ii) there is a trade off between evidential and epistemic meaning components that are related to each other on the basis of mutual or one-sided implicatures; (iii) one-sided implicatures occur with certain hearsay markers whose epistemic implicatures can be captured as Generalized Conversational Implicatures (GCIs). On this basis, we show that (iv) GCIs work also with inferential markers; they can be classified depending on which component (the inferential or the epistemic one) can be downgraded more easily. A crucial factor favoring the inferential meaning is a perceptual basis of the inference. In general, (v) the more complicated the reconstruction of the cognitive (or communicative) basis leading to an inference, the clearer the epistemic function emerges while the evidential function remains in the background, and vice versa. The study is corpus-driven and also includes an attempt at classifying micro- and macro-contextual conditions that (dis)favor a highlighting of the evidential function.

Discourse Markers in High School English Textbooks in Iran

Discourse Markers (DMs) are affective factors to connect sentences, hence making the text coherent. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reading comprehension sections of Iranian high school English textbooks (IHSETs) to find out the extent of using DMs and their types. To this end, the reading sections in IHSETs were analyzed to determine DMs. Fraser’s (1999) category of DMs were used with 4 main classifications: a) Contrastive Markers, b) Elaborative Markers, c) Inferential Markers, and 4) Topic Change Markers. To make this investigation viable, parallel texts in internationally-developed English textbooks were compared with IHSETs in terms of the use of DMs. To insure the equality of the number of words and level of difficulty, the Flesch (1948) readability formula was used. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the frequency of DMs in the reading sections of IHETs and the authentic texts to the benefit of the authentic texts. Materials designers may find the results helpful in their work.

Discourse Markers in Argumentative and Expository Writing of Iranian EFL Learners

The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency and the type of discourse markers used in the argumentative and expository writings of Iranian EFL learners and the differences between these text features in the two essay genres. The study also aimed at examining the influence of the use of discourse markers on the participants’ writing quality. To this end the discourse markers used in two essays (an argumentative and an expository) written by the participants of the study were analyzed. The results indicated a hierarchy of use of discourse markers in both essay types with elaborative markers (mainly “and”) the most frequently connectors used in both essay types. Next came contrastive and inferential markers; reason, exemplifier, and conclusive markers, respectively, were the least frequently used connectors. The results, moreover, indicated that, on the whole, the mean of discourse marker use was significantly higher in argumentative essays than in expository essays. As for discourse marker categories, contrastive and conclusive markers were used more frequently in argumentative than in expository essays. The results, nonetheless, showed that the use of discourse markers cannot be a significant predictor of the writing quality in argumentative and expository compositions of Iranian undergraduate EFL students.

I Guess Korean Has More Mirative Markers: -Napo and -Nmoyang

I Guess Korean Has More Mirative Markers: -Napo and -Nmoyang

'-kedun' as an Inferential Marker

'-kedun' as an Inferential Marker