(Meadow Mari)
Evid
Evid: Grammaticalized forms exist to express both direct and indirect evidentials.
| (1) | tače | erdene | kud | šagat-lan | kəńeľ-əm. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| today | morning | six | o’clock‑DAT | get_up‑PST1.1SG | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ‘I got up at six this morning.’ (Riese et al. 2022: 214) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (2) | uńiversiťet | voktene, | kol-ən-am, | u | kafe-m | poč-ən-ət. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| university | beside | hear‑PST2‑1SG | new | café‑ACC | open‑PST2‑3PL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ‘I heard a new café has opened beside the university.’ (Riese et al. 2022: 220) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (3) | kagaz | lapčək-eš | voz-en | kod-en, | məj | ške | šinča-m | dene | už-en-am. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| paper | shred‑LAT | lie‑CVB | stay‑PST2.3SG | I | own | eye‑1SG | with | see‑PST2‑1SG | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ’I saw it with my own eyes that the paper was lying there torn to pieces.’ (Korp.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In Meadow Mari, evidentiality is encoded via the tense system. Out of the six past tenses the first past, also called first simple past, is used in case the speaker was an eye-witness of an event or directly experienced it in some other way (1). The second past or second simple past tense is more frequently used when the speaker did not witness the event (2) (Riese et al. 2022: 219–222). It has to be added that the choice between these two past tenses is affected by a number of other factors such as resultativity, mirativity, or aspect, the language has no designated evidentiality marker. The second past tense is the dominant tense used in the language of journalism, making it more common than the first past tense in the written language (Riese et al. 2022: 220). There is research suggesting that the first past tense implies direct evidentiality, whereas the second past can be used to convey both direct (3) and indirect experiences, that is, it carries no information with regard to evidentiality (cf. Nelson – Vedernikova 2017). This topic requires further research.
Author: Bogáta Timár