The article deals with epistemic modality markers at the lexemic level, namely the adverb probably. The research has clearly revealed that it has the highest frequency of use among epistemic modality markers at the lexemic level. This adverb is often used parenthetically, on the one hand revealing the phatic function of language and, on the other hand, bearing a definite semantic load. The combination between the epistemic adverb probably and non-assertive contexts is manifold.

Exploratory talk is increasingly recognized in formal education for its role in enhancing students’ critical thinking and literacy skills, which are crucial for quality education both within and beyond school contexts. However, research shows that students often lack opportunities for inquiry-based learning and rarely receive explicit guidance on using language for reasoning, particularly in second language (L2) learning environments. Understanding how students engage in this complex function and effectively promoting it in L2 subject contexts remains a challenge. This study introduces an operational framework for the function of ‘explore’, based on L2 learning and socio-cultural theories and Dalton-Puffer’s construct of cognitive discourse functions (CDFs). It provides both quantitative and qualitative insights into how secondary-level content and language integrated learning (CLIL) students ( N = 113) from three different types of schools in Spain performed the ‘explore’ function orally, and it examines the role of epistemic modality in this meaning-making process by analysing the following features: (1) modal verbs, (2) modal adverbs and adjectives, (3) epistemic lexical verbs (ELVs), stance-taking forms, (4) discourse markers and the conditional ‘if’. A learner corpus was created for this analysis using Sketch Engine. The findings suggest that the CDF of ‘explore’ involves a combination of epistemic modality markers that serve as reasoning and exploratory discourse indicators. There is, however, a pressing need to raise teachers’ awareness of how language (through CDFs) supports students’ exploratory and deeper learning in L2 content-learning contexts. To this end, the discussion presents pedagogical implications for future research and practice in fostering exploratory reasoning, and where possible, embedding these skills in exploratory talk within CLIL classrooms.

Abstract This study reports on data from two 6‐week virtual intercultural exchanges (VIEs) between teachers of multilingual learners in K‐12 schools in Türkiye and the United States. Using the data from these asynchronous VIEs, we focus on Turkish world Englishes speakers’ use of epistemic markers and evidentials. We examine how participants from Türkiye use markers of epistemic modality and evidentiality in intercultural encounters and how that use influences their construction of cultural information about Türkiye. Our findings show participants selectively code epistemic modality and evidentiality to indicate (their proximity to) the source of cultural information, avoid potential misunderstanding, and claim responsibility for the factuality of the information shared (or not). Our study contributes to understanding how world Englishes and Intercultural Communication intersect in multilingual contact zones that transcend borders―both real and imagined―between cultures, languages, and nations.

This research examines the exploitation of epistemic modality markers in political discourse. This research inspects modal auxiliaries and semi-modals use in four speeches addressed by Obama at the annual United Nations General Assembly during his second period as a President of America. Applying both qualitative and quantitative methods, this research is in an attempt to accomplish the whole investigation dealing with explorative and quantification of epistemic modality in Obama’s political discourse. The data were taken from Obama’s speeches from 2013 to 2016 at the United Nations General Assembly. The findings demonstrate that 471 modality markers were found in Obama’s speeches and he frequently delivered epistemic probability with 189 cases or 40.2% modal auxiliaries and semi-modals. Epistemic certainty and possibility were found in 125 cases or 26.6% and in 157 cases or 33.2%. The highest degree of epistemic modality, epistemic certainty, is expressed by employing must, have to, need to, cannot, could not, and may not. Modal should, will, would, be going to, and ought to express epistemic probability and modal can, could, may, might, and be able to are exploited to express the lowest degree of epistemic modality, epistemic possibility. The higher epistemic modality markers involved in a proposition indicate the higher confidence of evaluation and judgment asserted based on the speaker’s knowledge, belief, and evidence. In contrast, the lower epistemic modality markers found indicate lower confidence in the evaluation and judgment of the proposition.

This qualitative corpus-based study employing epistemic analysis uncovered the epistemic modality (EM) markers used and their communicative functions in the seven inaugural speeches of the seven Philippine 5th Republic presidents. The findings revealed the preponderant use of epistemic modal verbs with 152 occurrences (81.72%), followed by epistemic lexical verbs with 20 occurrences (10.75%), epistemic modal adverbs with 9 occurrences (4.84%), and epistemic modal adjectives with 5 occurrences (2.69%). Moreover, the top-five modal verbs operated in the presidential inaugurals are will with 97 instances (66.9%), can with 28 instances (19.31%), shall with 9 instances (6.21%), would with 6 instances (4.14%), and could with 5 instances (3.44%). Meanwhile, should and might were never used by any president. In this regard, the presidents are confident, committed, bold, and certain with their statements; some are tentative and quite confident but still communicatively sensitive and polite; and few are uncertain but still diplomatic. Further, the communicative functions of the EM markers were categorized to high-intermediate-low modality values, certain-probable-possible semantic meanings, and close-near-distant epistemic distances.

This qualitative corpus-based study employing epistemic analysis uncovered the epistemic modality (EM) markers used and their communicative functions in the seven inaugural speeches of the seven Philippine 5th Republic presidents. The findings revealed the preponderant use of epistemic modal verbs with 152 occurrences (81.72%), followed by epistemic lexical verbs with 20 occurrences (10.75%), epistemic modal adverbs with 9 occurrences (4.84%), and epistemic modal adjectives with 5 occurrences (2.69%). Moreover, the top-five modal verbs operated in the presidential inaugurals are will with 97 instances (66.9%), can with 28 instances (19.31%), shall with 9 instances (6.21%), would with 6 instances (4.14%), and could with 5 instances (3.44%). Meanwhile, should and might were never used by any president. In this regard, the presidents are confident, committed, bold, and certain with their statements; some are tentative and quite confident but still communicatively sensitive and polite; and few are uncertain but still diplomatic. Further, the communicative functions of the EM markers were categorized to high-intermediate-low modality values, certain-probable-possible semantic meanings, and close-near-distant epistemic distances.

O claro é certo? Discourse markers claro (PT) and certo (ITA): a contrastive study. The present study aims to compare the dialogical uses of two discourse markers (DM), namely the European Portuguese claro and the Italian certo, by analysing the data extracted from two corpora of spoken language (the Corpus de Referência do Português Contemporâneo and the KIParla corpus). Both claro and certo are part of the group of conversational markers of epistemic modality, which includes a vast set of linguistic expressions revolving around the semantics of "right", "clear", and "obvious". This study shows that in European Portuguese, claro is the most frequent and polysemic DM (the “pivot form”), playing different functions in the construction of interpersonal cooperation and negotiation of meaning: in dialogical contexts, claro can mark cooperative attention, emphatic response, or agreement. To mark such functions, claro can occur within different syntactic and functional patterns, such as repetitions and co-occurrence with other DMs. In the comparison with Italian, data show that certo functions similarly in a great extent of communicative situations, thus concluding that semantic and functional parallelism can be drawn between the two DMs. However, a noteworthy difference in use relies on the speakers’ choice of DM during their communicative exchanges: in European Portuguese, speakers seem to utter different epistemic DMs in a sequence of dialogical turns to signal the same functions, while it does not appear as natural in Italian. On the contrary, Italian speakers appear to use one epistemic DM at a time. This difference, although subtle, may constitute a critical area for translation. REZUMAT. O claro é certo? Marcatorii discursivi claro (PT) și certo (ITA): un studiu contrastiv. Studiul de față își propune să compare utilizările dialogale a doi marcatori discursivi (MD), claro (portugheză europeană) și certo (italiană), analizând datele extrase din două corpusuri de limbă vorbită (Corpus de Referência do Português Contemporâneo și KIParla). Atât claro, cât și certo fac parte din grupul de marcatori conversaționali ai modalității epistemice, care include un set vast de expresii lingvistice ce gravitează în jurul sensurilor "corect", "clar" și "evident". Acest studiu arată că în portugheza europeană claro este cel mai frecvent și polisemic MD (forma "pivot"), îndeplinind diferite funcții în construirea cooperării interpersonale și în negocierea sensului: în contexte dialogice, claro poate marca atenția cooperantă, răspunsul emfatic sau acordul. Pentru a marca astfel de funcții, claro poate apărea în cadrul unor modele sintactice și funcționale diferite, cum ar fi repetițiile și co-ocurența cu alți MD. În comparația cu limba italiană, datele arată că certo funcționează în mod similar în majoritatea situațiilor de comunicare, concluzionând astfel că se poate stabili un paralelism semantic și funcțional între cei doi MD. Cu toate acestea, o diferență notabilă în utilizare se bazează pe alegerea de către vorbitori a MD în timpul schimburilor comunicative: în portugheza europeană, vorbitorii par să pronunțe diferiți MD epistemici într-o secvență de schimburi dialogice pentru a semnala aceleași funcții, în timp ce în italiană acest lucru nu pare la fel de natural. Dimpotrivă, vorbitorii italieni par să folosească un singur MD epistemic la un moment dat. Deși subtilă, această diferență, poate constitui o zonă critică pentru traducere. Cuvinte-cheie: marcatori discursivi, marcatori discursivi epistemici, dialog, certo, claro. Article history: Received 20 September 2023; Revised 16 October 2023; Accepted 30 October 2023;Available online 20 December 2023; Available print 31 December 2023.

Court judgments serve as important precedents for future judicial decision-making in common law systems. The legal meanings of judgments are conveyed by specific linguistic devices, among which epistemic modality plays an important role in indicating the probability of propositions to construct convincing arguments and recognise potential differing opinions (Abbuhl 2006). This study adopts a corpus-based approach to compare different categories of epistemic modality in translated and non-translated English court judgments in Hong Kong. Based on the framework put forward in Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), epistemic modality is categorised by orientation, value, and linguistic realisation. The findings reveal that the non-translated court judgments are characterised by a higher proportion of epistemic modality. In terms of orientation, the two corpora also exhibit some different distribution patterns. As for value, the overwhelming proportion is represented by median-value epistemic modality markers, whereas high-level modality markers are least represented in both corpora. Some variations related to the linguistic realisation of epistemic modality were also observed between the two corpora, which could mainly be attributed to the influence of the Chinese source texts, the translation process and different judicial thinking.

The study of epistemic modality in research articles (RAs) has been found in many papers. However, the investigation of epistemic modality in the abstract section of RAs viewed from Systemic Functional Linguistics is rarely conducted, especially in mechanical engineering RAs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the roles of epistemic modality in the abstract section of mechanical engineering RAs. A number of 50 abstracts were collected from Scopus Q-1 journal of mechanical engineering entitled “International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture” in the period of 2016-2020. The data were analyzed using the Systemic Functional Linguistics framework focusing on epistemic modality markers in terms of orientation and values. The results reveal that the writers of mechanical engineering RAs tend to use epistemic modality markers as objective implicit and explicit orientation only since there is no subjective implicit or explicit orientation found in the data. Furthermore, the findings also show that the writers apply epistemic modality markers mostly with low values instead of median or high values. These results may be used to improve the academic writing ability of mechanical engineering writers, especially in writing abstract sections.

Los marcadores de modalidad epistmica y evidencial son partculas discursivas conversacionales que se usan para indicar la fuente/certeza del hablante sobre lo dicho.En esta investigacin se analizan estos recursos en el corpus diacrnico Habla culta de Caracas 1973-2011(Guirado 2018), con el propsito de: (i) ofrecer un inventario de estas partculas; (ii) incluir nociones de fuente y certeza no consideradas en la tipologa de Martn Zorraquino y Portols (1999); (iii) comparar la distribucin en ambos perodos; y (iv) identificar preferencias y usos restringidos a la variedad dialectal.Los resultados muestran importantes cambios en el uso de estos marcadores en la microdiacrona estudiada.Entre las nociones propuestas, los marcadores de fuente exofrica son ms abundantes en el habla culta actual de Caracas.Adicionalmente, las marcas epistmicas prototpicas del espaol estndar son desplazadas por algunas partculas gramaticalizadas, distintivas del habla espontnea en Venezuela (para m, como, como que, de repente, as/ah consensual).marks of standard Spanish are displaced by some grammaticalized particles, distinctive of spontaneous speech in Venezuela (para m, como, como que, de repente, as/ah consensual).

Within the framework of this study – based on the texts of informal interviews published in English-language tabloids – the illocution of reactive disagreement is defined as an effective pragmatic mechanism for the coherent unfolding of the text, jointly generated by the interlocutors. Based on the method of conversational analysis, the constructive potential of a negative response to the propositional content and assessments that form a stimulating assertive message of the interviewer is revealed. Attention is focused on the form and content of the responses, explicitly/implicitly expressing disagreement, their pragmatic functions and role in ensuring the coherence of dialogical unity, reflecting the discussion of a specific topic by the interlocutors. It is established that in order to minimize discursive confrontation, the respondent can react with disagreement, which has a delayed character, with a preliminary expression of concession in favor of the effectiveness of the interviewer’s point of view. At the same time, in order to create relevant conditions for the implementation of a relaxed / partial disagreement, the respondent can initiate several dialogical moves. As a result, the stimulating judgments of the interviewer are interpreted as one of the alternative versions of the interpretation of the event or fact being discussed, and an informal conversation produces a pragmatic effect of intrigue. A softened form of disagreement can also be implemented by reacting replicas with blurred semantics due to hedging and markers of epistemic modality, a detailed explanation of the facts associated with the topic under discussion, activation of the shift of the current attention of the interviewer and the target audience. The motives underlying the reactive implementation of direct/implicit disagreement are revealed: the respondent’s desire to hide information about the prospects of his creative activity, which is requested by the interviewer, to avoid disharmony in interpersonal interaction, the gap between the interlocutors’ background knowledge, the dissimilarity of their axiological positions regarding the topic of discussion. A pragmatic justification of these motives is given. It is concluded that the reactive remarks of disagreement, implemented in the context of an informal interview, predetermine the conflict-free unfolding of interpersonal interaction of interlocutors due to the deliberate minimization of the threat to their social face from the respondent.

This paper reports on an experimental study of the use of two Spanish markers of epistemic modality and evidentiality, creo que ‘I believe that’ and pienso que ‘I think that’, by native speakers, and by Dutch and German learners of Spanish. We found a clear preference for creo que among the native speakers of Spanish, but with differences between the main varieties of the language. For Dutch and German learners the preference for creo que was significantly weaker, and for beginning learners of Spanish it was significantly weaker than for advanced learners. While for the Dutch learners of Spanish this pattern reflects the preference for I think over I believe in their L1, the preference that the German-speaking learners have for creo que can be seen as evidence for a general tendency noticed in the literature, namely the interference of an L2 (in this case English) instead of the L1 (in this case German) in L3 performance (in this case Spanish).

Background. Academic writers utilize a variety of rhetorical methods to construct their knowledge claims through hedges and boosters. These two strategies may also be affected by disciplinary, cultural, or generic contexts. Purpose. This mixed-methods contrastive research study explored how disciplinary and cultural contexts may affect the way Arab and Anglophone writers construct and modulate knowledge claims through hedges and boosters in the results and discussion sections of 90 English research articles in three disciplines: Journalism, Law, and Political Science. Methods. Instances of hedges and boosters and their pragmatic functions in context were identified, employing Liu and Tseng’s (2021) framework. This framework provides a detailed functional interpretation of the use and variation of these devices along four continuums: authorial voice, reasoning, consensus-building, and information evaluation. Results. The results showed interesting contrasts and similarities between both groups regarding the approaches they used to define their levels of commitment and detachment in their knowledge claims. The quantitative findings revealed significant differences in hedges but non-significant differences in boosters used by both groups. The qualitative analysis revealed that hedging and boosting functions in Arab and Anglophone writers’ RAs differed along the four continuums. Anglophone writers often used hedges in their writing to show humility, negotiate knowledge claims, and accommodate vagueness. These acts enabled them to sketch the realities emerging from their research. By contrast, the English-speaking Arab writers used fewer hedging strategies and demonstrated assertiveness, and assumed shared knowledge to enhance the realities constructed in their knowledge claims. Implications. These findings can benefit ESP/EAP teachers, especially those teaching writing for publication purposes to raise postgraduate students’ awareness of epistemic modality markers. A custom-made ESP/EAP course tailored to the needs of learners based on Liu and Tseng’s (2021) hedging-boosting framework can be devised to develop communicative and academic strategies in English. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the Deanship of scientific research at King Saud University for funding and supporting this research through the initiative of DSR Graduate Students Research Support (GSR).

The purpose of the research is to identify the features characterising the correlation between epistemic modality and evidentiality in Turkish and Japanese. The relationship between epistemic modality and evidentiality is one of the most ambiguous issues when considering evidentiality. Just as the category of evidentiality manifests itself differently in each language, so the issue of the correlation between epis-temic modality and evidentiality has a special solution in each language. Scientific novelty of the paper lies in conducting a comparative study of the said issue in Turkish and Japanese. We have not found any studies that address the issue of the correlation between epistemic modality and evidentiality in the Japanese and Turkish languages in a comparative aspect. The available research on Japanese or Turkish is often contradictory: the definition of admirativity in Turkish, the identification of markers of epistemic modality and evidentiality in Japanese - these issues cause a lot of controversy. As a result, it has been proved that the interaction of the two categories is particularly evident in the Turkish language when using inferential evidentiality; in the Japanese language, it is the case when it comes to hearsay evidentiality. The inte-raction of the two categories generates a new meaning of evidentiality in the Turkish language, i.e. mirativity.

The article “Epistemic modality markers at the syntactic level: the modal phrase I think” deals with the expression of the epistemic modality at the syntactic level. An análisis of the functioning of the modal phrase I think it is obvious that the expression of epistemic modality is versatile and has numerous shades and nuances.

Abstract This paper revisits the use of theshi…deconstruction, based on the analysis of structures with predicative adjectives in a 500,000-character corpus of spoken Mandarin assembled from transcripts of a popular Chinese chat show. Overall,dewas omitted more than 40% of the time with a predicative adjective, a significantly higher rate than that found in previous studies. The data reveal a number of factors that may all play a role in determining the likelihood ofdeomission or retention: the time dependency of the adjective, the particular intensifier chosen to modify the adjective, the discourse function of the utterance and the presence of certain markers of epistemic modality. The findings also lend support to the hypothesis thatshiis grammaticalizing to a bound morpheme in some so-called ‘conventionalised forms’ involving epistemic and evidentiality markers.

Abstract Native deaf signers express epistemic modality by different means: mental-state words, clause-internal particles, signs indicating hypothesis, and nonmanually. The data for this study come from two unrelated sign languages, Danish Sign Language and Japanese Sign Language. In dialogues the signers use both calques of majority-language words and signs that appear to have emerged in the sign languages only. Based on the multifunctionality of some word forms, the origin of the epistemic modal particles may be traced back to tags, interjections, and lexical signs, a route motivated by interaction and also found in unrelated spoken languages. Furthermore, in both sign languages, the first-person pronoun can be used, without a verb, as an epistemic “anchor” of a proposition, a construction that seems specific to languages in the gestural-visual modality. Another modality-specific feature is the possibility of transferring the expression of a marker of epistemic uncertainty from one articulator to another.

Hedging is a pragmatic phenomenon which is practiced to signal interpersonal communication. In academic discourse, hedges are used to signal writers’ presence in a text. This article explores the use of hedges particularly with reference to epistemic and deontic modality markers—important and frequently used types of hedges-- in Pakistani research dissertations belonging to three major disciplines: Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities. The material is based on a special purpose corpus of Pakistani academic writing developed with 235 M.phil and PhD research theses. To find out the frequencies of modal verbs AntConc 3.5.6 was used. All the frequencies were listed and every 50th example was analysed using the theoretical distinction between epistemic and deontic modality outlined by Biber et al. (1999). Statistical analysis of the data reveals, that disciplinary affiliation has a considerable influence on the proportion of epistemic and deontic modality

It is well known that the representatives of a certain gender and age groups are distinguished by various perceptions of the world, evaluation of the objective reality events as well as by operating facts as reliable. The purpose of the research is to reveal the speaker’s gender and age characteristics affecting the confidence level in reliability of facts provided and as such the epistemic modal markers (modal words and modal verbs) chosen by him or her. To achieve the objective of the research there were used some linguistic methods such as a communicative-pragmatic and the descriptive ones. The illustrative basis consists of the situations expressing the meanings of epistemic possibility and epistemic necessity. Two types of literary characters from two fiction resources (J. Banville «The Sea» and M. Zusak «The Book Thief») were chosen to analyse: a middle-aged man and a teenage girl. The research identifies that the man mostly deals with markers of epistemic possibility if his statement is based on retrospection, intuition, or faith / conjecture (unlike a girl), an assumption (similar to a girl). In case of having a convincing evidence base, the man uses epistemic necessity markers. The girl demonstrates the usage of modal markers of epistemic necessity if her statements are based on faith, desire to benefit or “female logic”. The desire to attract attention of the opposite sex interlocutor is marked by the usage of modal markers of epistemic possibility. It is also worth noting that strong emotions, which are common to a teenage girl rather than a mature man, can distort the reliability of the statements. The content of the article is of practical value for the further epistemic modality researches in the field of linguistic pragmatics and sociolinguistics.

In this paper we compare the combinations of epistemic modal markers in research articles in medicine and humanities written in English.In our analysis, we focus on three aspects.First, we look at the distribution of combinations of MODAL AUXILIARY + MODAL ADVERB (emphasizer) used in an epistemic sense in two subdomains of academic writing, ACAD: Medicine and ACAD: Humanities in COCA (Davies, 2008(Davies, -2018)).Second, we investigate the statistical significance of the differences between the two subdomains.Finally, we consider the relevance of the epistemic modal markers in presenting the argumentation line in research articles in medicine and humanities.The results demonstrate the difference in preference in co-occurrences of the selected modal markers in the two distinct academic subcorpora and indicate to what extent they are a significant feature to be included in developing academic writing skills, which is crucial for the effective and convincing communication of research results.