[Lingtyp] Epistemic possibility plus affective evaluation?

[Wiemer, Bjoern]

Dear Bastian,
do you have in mind such things like so-called modal particles which express surprise about some pleasant/unpleasant event? For instance, Russian "razve", "neuželi" used in yes/no questions:

(1a)	Razve on prišel?
(1b)	Neuželi on prišel?
	'Is it really the case that he has come?'

The translation is only approximative, but it holds for both. The difference is that (1a) is about a surprise concerning an event that the speaker evaluates positive, while in (1b) the speaker implies that for him/her the event is not so pleasant. Thus, a kind of combination of counterexpectation  and evaluation. However, the point is whether counterexpectation/surprise weakens epistemic support, or whether (full) epistemic  support remains unaffected and the speaker simply accepts a fact, but nonetheless expresses her/his surprise (+ evaluation). Of course, differences of epistemic support might be modified (and indicated) by intonation.
	Similar things exist in German, e.g.

(2)	Ist er etwa gekommen?
	Ist er wirklich gekommen?
	Ist er tatsächlich gekommen?
	(same translation as with 1a-1b)

However, there is no contrast as for positive--negative evaluation of the unexpected event; all these particles (etwa, wirklich, tatsächlich) can be used in either case (also depending on intonation).

Best,
Björn.



-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Lingtyp [mailto:lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] Im Auftrag von Bastian Persohn
Gesendet: Montag, 19. Oktober 2020 16:51
An: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
Betreff: [Lingtyp] Epistemic possibility plus affective evaluation?

Dear colleagues,

I was wondering if you know of any examples of expressions of epistemic possibility - especially adverbials - that additionally contribute an element of affective evaluation, i.e. expressions that could be paraphrased in English along the lines of  ʻmaybe (and I hope that is the case)ʼ or ʻmaybe (but hopefully that's not the case)ʼ.

Thanks so much!

Bastian

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