Cfp: Expression of evidentiality in Uralic languages

[Seppo Kittil ä]

(apologies for multiple postings, the call can be forwarded to anyone  
potentially interested in the topic)

Symposium: Expressions of evidentiality in Uralic languages

At the XII International Congress for Finno-Ugric Studies at the  
University of Oulu from August 17 to August 21, 2015 (see:  
http://www.oulu.fi/suomenkieli/fuxii/englanti/etusivu).

Language: English, Organized by Evidego (Seppo Kittilä & Lotta Jalava)

Call for papers

Evidentiality as a linguistic notion refers to the source of  
information speakers have for their statements. The statements can be  
based on, for example, direct sensory evidence, hearsay, inference, or  
on shared or private information. All languages can refer to the  
source of information somehow, but languages differ according to  
whether evidentiality is an obligatory category or not. In Uralic  
languages evidentiality is usually not an obligatory category, i.e.  
many of these languages lack grammaticalized evidentials. However, in  
Uralic languages lexical elements such as specialized particles (such  
as 'näköjään' (based on the verb 'see') and kuulemma (based on the  
verb 'hear') of Finnish) or verbs of sensory perception ('see',  
'hear', 'taste' etc,) may be used to indicate the kind of evidence the  
speaker has for her/his statement.

In some of the Uralic languages indirect evidence may be expressed as  
part of the modal system of the language, or, as secondary use of  
other verbal categories such as tense and aspect (e.g. perfects or  
resultatives), while in others there are also grammatical evidentials  
for hearsay or non-visual sensory evidence, that is, elements that  
indicate source of information as their primary function. In recent  
years, evidentiality has been a popular topic also in research of  
languages lacking obligatory evidentiality, especially when it comes  
to (Indo-)European languages. As for Uralic languages, expressions of  
evidentiality are much less studied.

This theme session aims to explore how source of information is  
expressed in Uralic languages. It brings together scholars studying  
evidentiality and related phenomena in different Uralic  
languages/language groups and in their contact languages. The main  
focus is on the analysis of evidential strategies/expression in Uralic  
languages, especially from a typological perspective (or from the  
viewpoint of what Uralic data can provide for our understanding of  
evidentiality). We encourage contributors to take any descriptive,  
theoretical, comparative or historical perspective on the topic.

Specific topics to be discussed include, but are not limited to:

- Description/analysis of evidentiality system/of a particular  
evidential expression in one or more Uralic languages
- Evidentiality as secondary function of other (verbal) categories,  
or, evidential expressions in relation to other linguistic categories
- Lexical vs. grammatical evidentiality
- Evidentiality in context: encoding source of information in  
different genres of text and types of discourse
- Evidentiality and interaction: evidentiality and intersubjectivity;  
the effect of personal knowledge or involvement
- History/grammaticalization/etymology/change of one or more  
particular evidential expressions in one or more Uralic languages (and  
their contact languages)

Please submit an abstract of a maximum of 3000 characters (including  
references, data, etc.) by September 30, 2014, following the  
guidelines of The XII International Congress for Finno-Ugric Studies.  
The abstract must be submitted through EasyChair, see the conference  
site http://www.oulu.fi/suomenkieli/fuxii/englanti/abstraktit.  
Notifications of acceptance will be sent by October 31, 2014. The  
organizers of the symposium Seppo Kittilä  
(kittila(at)mappi.helsinki.fi) and Lotta Jalava  
(lotta.jalava(at)helsinki.fi) are happy to answer any questions  
regarding the symposium.

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