35.1144, Fun Fact: Mirroring Evidentiality in Quechua

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LINGUIST List: Vol-35-1144. Thu Apr 04 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.1144, Fun Fact: Mirroring Evidentiality in Quechua

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Date: 23-Mar-2024
From: Natasha Singh [singhnat at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Fun Fact: Mirroring Evidentiality in Quechua


Hello LINGUIST List readers,

Here we are again, ready to share more Fun Facts that'll get you
thinking and bring a linguistic twist to your day!

Today, we're reflecting on one of the rich linguistic features of
Quechua: evidentiality.

In Quechua, the grammar requires that speakers indicate the source of
their information, whether it is based on personal experience,
hearsay, or inference. This means that every sentence in Quechua
carries a wealth of information about the speaker’s knowledge and
perspective, making it a highly nuanced and precise language. This
linguistic feature reflects the speaker's viewpoint, mirroring their
level of certainty or the source of their knowledge.

Direct evidentiality is used when the speaker has firsthand knowledge
or witnessed the event themselves. Indirect evidentiality is used when
the speaker does not have direct knowledge of the event, but has
inferred it from some evidence or indirect means. Reported
evidentiality is used when the speaker is reporting information that
they heard from someone else.

Evidential morphemes are added to the end of the verb in Quechua, and
there are several different evidential markers that are used depending
on the type of evidence being conveyed. For example, the direct
evidential marker “-mi” indicates that the speaker has personal
knowledge of the event, while the reporting evidential marker “-shi”
indicates that the information is being reported by others. The
indirect evidential marker “-chá” indicates that the information is an
inference, a speculation, assumption or hypothesis.

For more about Quechua, visit
https://www.lengua.com/blog/rare-languages-1-quechua/

Thank you for your time.

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