Source vs. Stance? On the Interpretation and Use of Evidential Utterances by Turkish- vs. English-Speaking Adults
Abstract
This research empirically examined the relationship between evidentiality and
modality in sentence interpretation by Turkish vs. English speakers and the influence of
different forms of evidential marking on the establishment of discourse coherence.
Evidentiality, a property, commonly refers to the linguistic marking (in the grammar or
the lexicon) of source of knowledge about an asserted event. What is unclear is whether
this property also conveys epistemic value (or stance information). This research
examined this issue by speakers of Turkish (in which evidentiality is marked in the
grammar) and English (in which evidentiality is marked in the lexicon).
In Experiment 1 participants were presented with identical sentences differing
only in whether evidential or modal markers were inserted. For each sentence they were
asked to make judgments about the source of evidence and about their relative
confidence about whether the asserted event had actually occurred. The results
demonstrated that both Turkish and English speakers found that there was enough
information to judge the source and degree of certainty of various evidential and modal
expressions. The results support the view that there is a close relationship between
evidentiality and modality. Further, it was found that the linguistic level of evidentiality
indication affected the source and epistemic value interpretations. Evidential
expressions were interpreted in more varied ways by Turkish speakers, while modal
expressions were interpreted in more varied ways by English speakers.
The second experiment used a discourse completion task in which participants
read two sentences containing different evidential expressions that resulted in somewhat
contradictory information. Participants were asked to supply a third sentence that would
make sense of the first two. Along with the evidentiality manipulation, two other
variables were manipulated: whether the evidential information was presented first or
second and whether the asserted facts were general or particular. The results suggested
that evidentiality marking affected speakers’ sense-making process but was not the only
factor influencing their response, since presentation order and the type of information
(general vs. particular) also mattered. Interestingly, Turkish speakers appeared to place
more emphasis on the nature of the fact in arriving at their response, whereas English
speakers were more influenced by the order of presentation of the information.
Taken together, the findings suggest that evidentiality conveys epistemic value of
the reported event along with source of knowledge. Further, evidentiality – in interaction
with contextual factors -- influences speakers’ attempts at establishing discourse
coherence.
Citation
Tosun, Sumeyra (2014). Source vs. Stance? On the Interpretation and Use of Evidential Utterances by Turkish- vs. English-Speaking Adults. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /152717.