Abstract
Of late, evidentiality has received great attention in formal semantics. In this paper I develop ‘evidentiality-informed’ truth conditions for modal operators such as must and may. With language data drawn from Luoping Nase (a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the P.R. of China and belonging to the Yi Nationality), I illustrate that epistemic modals clash with clauses articulating first-hand information. I then demonstrate that existing models such as Kratzer’s graded possible-worlds semantics fail to provide accurate truth conditions for modals tagging clauses with first-hand information. As a remedy I propose a fuzzy version of possible-worlds semantics with various grades of belief and knowledge. In addition to preserving the expressive power of graded possible-worlds semantics, the fuzzy model will be shown to supply appropriate truth conditions for epistemic modals appended to evidential clauses (i.e. clauses expressing first-hand information).
Abbreviations
- 1P SG:
-
First person singular
- 1P SG LOG:
-
First person singular logophoric
- 2P SG:
-
Second person singular
- 3P PL:
-
Third person plural
- 3P SG:
-
Third person singular
- ART:
-
Article
- CL:
-
Classifier
- CONJ:
-
Conjunction
- CONJ:if:
-
Conjunction with gloss
- COV:
-
Coverb
- COV:at:
-
Coverb with verbal origin
- COV:use:
-
Coverb with verbal origin
- DEM:
-
Demonstrative
- DEM:PROX:
-
Demonstrative: proximal to Speaker
- DP:
-
Dynamic perfect
- EXP:
-
Experiential aspect
- FEAR:
-
Attitude particle of fear
- FUT:
-
Future
- LOC:
-
Location
- LOC:outside:
-
Location particle with gloss
- NEG:
-
Negation
- NEG IMP:
-
Negative Imperative
- NESS:
-
Necessity
- NP:
-
Noun Phrase
- NUM:
-
Numeral
- NUM:9:
-
Numeral with its value
- PASS:
-
Passive
- POSS:
-
Possibility
- PROG:
-
Progressive Aspect
- QUANT:
-
Quantifier
- QUANT:all:
-
Quantifier with gloss
- QUOT:
-
Quotative
- SENT TOP:
-
Sentence Topic
- SUFF:
-
Suffix
- TAM:
-
Tense Aspect Modality
- WISH:
-
Attitude particle of wish
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Gerner, M. Assessing the modality particles of the Yi group in fuzzy possible-worlds semantics. Linguist and Philos 32, 143–184 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-009-9057-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-009-9057-2