Siouan evidentiality

[rwd0002 at unt.edu]

Hi all:

I have written a bit on Evidentiality. The two most recent sources are 
Aikhenvald (2004), Evidentiality (Oxford), and Studies in 
Evidentiality, ed. by Aikhenvald and Dixon (2003) (John Benjamins).

I'd expect all Siouan languages to have some evid. marking.  In 
Lakhota, you have a rather minimal set of evid. enclitics or particles: 
  keyA quotative, s^khe quotative (there must be a difference; what the 
difference is should be figured out more clearly, maybe check what 
Julian Rice says), and possibly also huNs^e, and c^he. (Rood and Taylor 
Handbook sketch, p. 475: "assertions that the speaker believes to be 
true, but for which formal proof is lacking".) These might be 
epistemic, though.  Evid. should only code source of knowledge, not 
degree of certainly/uncertainly, but of course there might be overlaps.

Willem de Reuse

Quoting David Kaufman <dvklinguist2003 at yahoo.com>:

> Hi all,
>  
> I'm planning on writing a paper to present at this year's conference 
> on Biloxi evidentiality.  It's my understanding that this topic 
> hasn't been much researched in Siouan, but if you have any examples 
> from your respective languages or any other thoughts on it, please 
> let me know.  The long and short of it is that Biloxi seems to have 
> at least 2 evidentiality particles, kane and naxo.  The first 
> indicates 'hearsay' or 'not experienced' whereas the second indicates 
> that it was 'directly experienced' or 'first-hand knowledge.' 
>  
> Not sure about other Siouan languages, but Cherokee apparently has a 
> similar system.  If anyone knows of any other Native American 
> languages that have similar systems, please let me know.  I am aware, 
> of course, that evidentiality is hot in Central Asia, and I may give 
> an example or two from SW Monguor, a Mongolic language I worked on as 
> a graduate research assistant last year.
>  
> And, oh yes, there is the possibility that use of evidentials in 
> Biloxi may be a male vs. female speech pattern (evidentials may be 
> used only by men according to one of Dorsey's notes).  If anyone has 
> any thoughts on male-female speech patterns in Siouan or other 
> languages, please let me know.
>  
> Cheers,
>  
> Dave
>
>
>