Evidentiality is one of the most fascinating categories of human languages. In a number of languages, scattered across the world, every statement must contain a specification of the type of evidence on which it is based – whether the speaker saw it, or heard it, or inferred it from indirect evidence, or learnt it from somebody else. This is a very powerful device for human communication. Many people think that it would be a good thing if our politicians had to talk
in this way.
The book investigates a variety of other grammatical categories related to evidentiality, such as aspect and person. It will be of interest to any grammarian. It also discusses the cognitive and sociolinguistic consequences of evidentiality in a language. This will make it of interest to a wider audience, including psychologists and philosophers.
