La evidencialidad en el castellano andino
Evidentiality in the Andean Castilian

Author(s): Vlastimil Rataj
Subject(s): Syntax, Lexis, Semantics, Comparative Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Philology
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Andean Spanish; Spanish; evidentiality; evidentiality strategies; language contact;
Summary/Abstract: The language contact in Andean region introduced into local Spanish some phenomena nonexistent in standard Spanish. One of the grammatical categories in regional native languages that found their place in Andean Spanish is the evidentiality. The aim of this paper is to analyse some expressions and constructions present in Andean Spanish that have evidential meanings, namely some forms of the verb decir (“say”), the pluperfect, and the synthetic future. Their use is exemplified and put in correlation with functionally similar forms in Quechua. An attempt is made to determine their origin and whether they are grammatical evidentials or just evidential extensions of other categories. In particular, a special attention to an explanation of the basic concepts relevant to evidentiality has been paid in the introductory section. In conclusion, a grammaticalised particle (dice, dizque, “says”) was introduced in Andean Spanish, and the verbal system of Spanish was restructured in order to permit grammatical evidentiality marking; this has occurred as a result of transference from native languages.

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