PhD project
Epistemicity in Cinyungwe
This project investigates (1) how the strategies used in expressing epistemicity differ in their interpretation and use; (2) which strategies can combine and to what effects this leads; (3) what the expression of (various aspects of) epistemicity tell us about how the languages encode the speaker’s and addressee’s knowledge.
- Duration
- 2025 - 2029
- Contact
- Crisófia Langa da Câmara
When people communicate, they not only exchange information, but they also indicate how the speaker’s and addressee’s knowledge relate to that information. What is the source of the information, how certain is the speaker of it, is it unexpected for the speaker or addressee? Interestingly, the linguistic strategies to express these aspects are typically multifunctional, indicating fuzzy boundaries between the concepts of source, certainty etc. For example, saying ‘They DID eat it’ can indicate a contrast with the addressee thinking they didn’t, but also that this is surprising, and that the speaker is certain. All the concepts related to the speaker’s and addressee’s knowledge are thus interconnected in our mind: together they form one conceptual space. How is that space organised? And is it the same for speakers of all languages?
The project aims at discussing epistemicity in Cinyungwe trying to understand how the languages encode the speaker’s and addressee’s knowledge in relation to the exchanged information.