Article published In: Pragmatics
Vol. 18:2 (2008) ► pp.215–252
Epistemic Deixis in Kalapalo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 1 June 2008
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.18.2.03bas
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.18.2.03bas
Speakers of Kalapalo, a Southern Carib language spoken in central Brazil, use a complex set of grammatical particles to reference epistemic judgments. Using data from narratives, hereditary leader’s ritual communication, ritual songs, conversations, and didactic speech, I use deictic and stance concepts to understand the semantics of this system. A focus on discursive practice illustrates how various intersubjective stance processes are foregrounded by epistemic marking. The paper concludes with discussion of issues requiring further research.
Keywords: Epistemology, Carib languages, Deixis, Stance
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