Information Source and Evidentiality: Focus on the Indigenous Languages of China

About the Research Project

The indigenous languages of China, especially those belonging to the Tibeto-Burman family, display numerous ways of linguistically signally the source of the speakers' information in their grammar. In Linguistics, this is known as evidentiality, requiring speakers to grammatically specify how they know something, for example, whether it was directly perceived, inferred from evidence, or learned from another person. This project aims at a cross-linguistic investigation of evidentials in the region and their status as a performative category. 

Impact 

The impact of this project consists in revealing the patterns of human cognition and the ways in which information source and its expression correlates with social structures reflected in the languages under consideration. It explains the performative nature of information source and its expression, contributing to making minority voices heard and understood.

Partners

• Research Council of China
• University of Macau