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In:Verb and Context: The impact of shared knowledge on TAME categories
Edited by Susana Rodríguez Rosique and Jordi M. Antolí Martínez
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 34] 2023
► pp. 1–18

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What everybody knows

Expressing shared knowledge thorough evidentials

 | Central Queensland University
Published online: 4 January 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.34.01aik
Abstract
Every language has a variety of ways of expressing how one knows what one is talking about. In quite a few of the world’s languages, one has to always specify the information source through grammatical means. Evidential terms may combine reference to the information sources of the speaker and of the addressee and to information shared by everyone. A special term for ‘common knowledge’ is a feature of a few large systems of evidentials. Sharing information source and common knowledge may constitute part of the meaning of an existing evidential within a large system. Shared context allows speakers and the audience to distinguish the exact reference of each evidential term. If a language becomes obsolescent, the meanings of the evidential terms change. This is illustrated with a case study from Tariana, an endangered Arawak language from north-west Amazonia, Brazil.
Keywords:
Article outline
  • 1.Preamble: Evidentials, information source, and shared knowledge
  • 2.General knowledge though evidentials: The problem
  • 3.Common knowledge and knowledge sharing in Tariana evidentials
    • 3.1The meanings of Tariana evidentials
    • 3.2Evidentials and tense
    • 3.3Shared information source and general knowledge through Tariana evidentials
    • 3.4Language change and the assumed evidential
  • 4.To conclude
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.
2024. Speaking about knowledge. Studies in Language 48:3 ► pp. 543 ff. DOI logo

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