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Evidentiality in Dutch, German, English and Spanish: Evidence from a Twitter corpus

Evidentiality in Dutch, German, English and Spanish: Evidence from a Twitter corpus. Ad Foolen , Helen de Hoop, Gijs Mulder, Vera van Mulken. Evidentiality. Evidentiality expresses secondary information (Anderson 1986) Primary information : proposition

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Evidentiality in Dutch, German, English and Spanish: Evidence from a Twitter corpus

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  1. Evidentiality in Dutch, German, English and Spanish: Evidence from a Twitter corpus Ad Foolen, Helen de Hoop, Gijs Mulder, Vera van Mulken

  2. Evidentiality • Evidentialityexpressessecondaryinformation (Anderson 1986) • Primaryinformation: proposition • Evidentiality: extra (secondary) informationthat the speaker provides abouttheirsource of information (their type of evidencefor the proposition) • Grammaticalisation

  3. Afrikaans Ek glodat hyryk is I believethat he rich is “I thinkthat he is rich” Hy is gloryk he is EVID rich “He is said (supposed, believed) toberich” Boye & Harder (2009)

  4. Dutch evidentiality (inferential) • Ik denkdat Jan ziek is I thinkthat Jan ill is • Jan is ziek, denk ik Jan is illthink I • Jan is denk ik ziek Jan is think I ill I think Jan is ill

  5. thinkand believe • We will focus on the evidential use of two verbs, think and believe, in Dutch, English, German, Spanish: • denken, geloven • denken, glauben • think, believe • pensar, creer

  6. Dutch geloven ‘believe’ • Ik geloofdat Jan ziek is I believethat Jan ill is • Jan is ziek, geloof ik Jan is illbelieve I • Jan is geloof ik ziek Jan is believe I ill I believe Jan is ill

  7. Dutch denken ‘think’ - PAST • Ik dachtdat Jan ziek was I thoughtthat Jan ill was • Jan is ziek, dacht ik Jan is illthought I • Jan is dacht ik ziek Jan is thought I ill I thought Jan was ill

  8. Dutch geloven ‘believe’ - PAST • Ik geloofdedat Jan ziek was I believedthat Jan ill was • #Jan is ziek, geloofde ik Jan is illbelieved I • #Jan is geloofde ik ziek Jan is believe I ill I believed Jan was ill

  9. Twitter • WhyTwitter? • Large, contemporary corpus of ‘spoken language in writtenform’ • Relevant for the study of evidentialexpressions (like ‘I think’ and ‘I believe’) • Methodology

  10. ik denk ‘I think’(Twitter) • Ik denk dat half NL gaat BBQ vandaag! (+) ‘I think half the Netherlands are going to BBQ today.’ • ik denk dat hij je zo gaat versieren. (+) ‘I thinkhe is going to make a move onyou in a bit.’ • ja ik denk doe is aardig (-) ‘Yes, I’m thinking, let’sbenice.’

  11. denk ik ‘think I’(Twitter) • Ak geleerd, gaat wel goed komen denk ik (: (+) ‘Didgeography, willbealright I think’ • Saniya is denk ik heel erg blij. (+) ‘Saniya is very happy, I think’ • Ik ga ff een biertje drinken denk ik (-) ‘I’mgoing to drink a beer, I think’

  12. ik geloof ‘I believe’(Twitter) • Ik geloof niet dat iemand hier hem kent… (+) ‘I don’tthinkanybodyknowshimhere.’ • Ik geloof dat iedereen een korte broek aan doet vandaag, tl staat vol (+) ‘I thinkeveryone is wearing shorts today, my TL is bursting.’

  13. geloof ik ‘believe I’(Twitter) • Hahaha, Leon gaat me haten als ik dit jaar blijf zitten geloof ik xD (+) ‘Whahaha, Leon is gonnahate me ifI’m held back thisyear, I think.’ • @martijnkoetsier gebruikt ’m geloof ik al een tijdje (+) ‘@martijnkoetsier has been usingitforsome time, I think.’

  14. geloofde ‘believed’(Twitter) • serieus vroeger geloofde ik hierin, wat was er mis met mij? haha (-) ‘Seriously, I used to believe in this, what was wrong with me?’ • Weetje… eerst geloofde ik niet dat ze zwanger is.. maar nu geloof ik nii dat ze een grapje maakt… o_O (-) ‘Youknow… first I didnotbelieveshe was pregnant, butnow I don’tthinkshe was joking…. o_O’

  15. Counterfactualdacht ‘thought’ • Dacht ik nederlands helemaal verpest te hebben, heb ik toch nog een 8 :D #happyme (+) ‘I thought I had screwed up my Dutch test. Stillgotan 8 :D #happyme’ • Zwemles als altijd dacht ik, maar dat liep verrassend anders (+) ‘Swimminglesson as usual, I thought, butit was surprisingly different’ • Ik dacht dat mn mobiel nog in mn zak zat maar gelukkig niet. (+) ‘I thoughtmycellphone was still in my pocket, butluckilyit was not.’

  16. Results corpus research • denken ‘think’: lessoften in original (literal) meaning; in non-literalmeaningnotnecessarilyevidential (alsoothernon-literalmeanings, such as intention) • geloven ‘believe’: eitheroriginalorevidentialinterpretation

  17. Results corpus research In past tenseik geloofde dat ‘I believethat’ becomes the primaryinformation. Notethat the sameholdsforperceptionverbs : • Ik zie/geloof dat Jan ziek is (+) • Jan is ziek, zie/geloof ik (+) • Ik zag/geloofde dat Jan ziek was (-)

  18. Comparison denken ‘think’ geloven ‘believe’ Experiencer Ifgrammaticalised (medium orfinalposition), thennecessarilyevidential Past tensenotpossiblewithevidentialmeaning • Agent • Ifgrammaticalised, notnecessarilyevidential (intention, counterfactual): • Also past tensepossiblewithevidentialmeaning

  19. Preliminaryconclusion (Dutch) • denken ‘think’  subject ‘I’ = Agent, therefore the evidentiality is (purely) inferential • geloven ‘believe’  subject ‘I’ = Experiencer, therefore the evidentiality is more impressionistic, lessinferential, ‘affective’ • The inference (denken) cantake place in the past, but the impression (geloven) not

  20. German Denken undglauben

  21. General observations • Similar to Dutch • Denken more oftenliteralthanglauben • Denken often in construction: ‘Every time when X happens, I think Y’ • Immer wennichBerliner-Neufolgerhabe, denkeich“Aaahscheisse, ein echter Mensch” ‘Every time I have a newfollowerfrom Berlin, I think “Aaah shit, a realhumanbeing”’

  22. Focus onglauben • Ichglaubeder Zug hat Verspätung :D ‘I think the train is delayed’ • MeinKopfistglaubeichnoch nicht richtig da, aber rein körperlich bin ichanwesend. ‘I thinkmentally I amnotquitethereyet, butphysically I am present.’ • ‘Badtölz’ heißt das glaubeich:D ‘I believeit is called ‘Badtölz’’

  23. Glauben in expressiveconstruction • Mobile Werbung in den USA: Neuartige Bus-Außenkarosserie aus LCD-Bildschirmen…. Ichglaub‘, michstreift ‘ne Glotze… ‘I believe a tv hit me from the side’

  24. Example b • @Sohnemann12 fragt mich grade wan der Weihnachtsmann kommt !! Ich glaub ich stehe im Wald !!! ‘I believe I am standing in the forest’

  25. Example c • Ich glaub, mein Hamster bohnert!: Im vergangenen November wurde Dortmund von etwas erschüttert, das die Lokalpre... ‘I believe my hamster scrubs the floor’

  26. Example d • @oberbaum7 Schumi?! Dachte auch mich tritt ein Pferd, als das gestern im ersten als Eilmeldung eingeblendet wurde. ‘Thought as well a horse hit me’

  27. I believe [weirdexperience] • Form: (Ich) Glaube, glaub’, glaub • Position: Always initial, notparentheticalor at the end • Whennarrative of past event, then shift to (Ich) dachte‘(I) thought’

  28. A paradigm • a. Ich glaub, mein Hamster bohnert! [I believemy hamster scrubsthefloor] • b. Ich glaub, mein Schwein pfeift! [Mypigwhistles] • c. Ich glaub‘, mein Pferd schielt! [my horse is cross-eyed] • d. Ich glaub, mich streift ein Bus / ein D-Zug! [a bus / D-train hits me from the side]

  29. Paradigm • e. Ich glaub‘, mich küsst / knutscht ein Elch / ein Haifisch! [a reindeer / a shark kisses / smooches me] • f. Ich glaub, ich steh im Wald! [I believe I am standing in theforrest] • g. (Ich glaub‘ / glaube,) mich laust der Affe! [themonkeygroomsme] • h. Ich glaub / denk, mich tritt ein Pferd! [Thought a horsehitme]

  30. Mirativeevidentality • Mirativeevidentials mark a more orlessspontaneousreaction to a new,salient, oftensurprisingevent (Aikhenvald 2004: 197) • They are typical in contexts of discovery (Rett & Murray 2013: 5)

  31. Direct and indirect evidential markers • Rett & Murray (2013): If a language distinguishes between markers for direct and indirect evidentiality, then it is typically the case that the indirect evidential marker is the one that is used for mirative purposes.

  32. Turkish • Kemal gel-di ‘Kemal came’ • Kemal gel-miş ‘Kemal came’ (inferred or heard) • Kemal gel-miş! ‘Kemal is here, what a surprise’

  33. Question • Canglaubenbeconsidered as an indirect evidential marker?

  34. Capelli 2008, p. 542

  35. Affective evidentiality • Capellli: ‘faith’, ‘impression’ • “Affect has not been recognized as a source of information” (Jing-Schmidt & Kapatsinksi 2012: 348) • ‘Fear’ is different from ‘faith’ and ‘impression’, relation between these different types of evidentiality needs further study.

  36. Examplesfrommotivation letters • I feel, mycurrent job oftenlacks the aforementionedchallenges. • I feelmy background gives me plenty of relevant experiencethatwould translate intosuccessonyourcourse. I alsofeelthatadapting to a new environment and a new country wouldnotbe a problemfor me either.

  37. Capelli 2008, p. 533

  38. Capelli 2008, p. 539 • “[B]y using believe, the speaker conveys a high ‘involvement’ in the likelihood of p, although still ‘standing’ in the domain of uncertainty.” • I consider glauben as the more indirect counterpart in relation to denken.

  39. Recencyrestriction • The utterance must be an immediate reaction to a here-and-now experience • Ik denk dat we beter kunnen gaan. ‘I think we betterleave’ • Ik geloof dat we beter kunnen gaan. ‘I believe we better leave’

  40. The weirdpropositional content • Conversational implicature: ‘Thiscannotbetrue’ • Mirative and negation, cf. Lesage (2013: 45) onNo way!

  41. The construction as a whole • Ichglaube: actualimpression, notveryreliable • Conversational implicature of proposition ‘Thiscannotbetrue’ • Result: Speaker expressesbeingflabbergasted

  42. Think and believein English

  43. For a complete analysis of evidentialthink and believe we needed to addfind. We foundexamples of evidentialthink, believe and find in Twitter.

  44. Think and believe Englishthink and believe are more similar to eachotherthan Dutch denken and geloven and Germandenken and glauben. In manyutterancesthey are interchangeable.

  45. Think and believe I think we will win I think I calledthateveryone “When does the CohF cover come out”I don’tknow; mypublisher does reveals, not me. MidJanuaryI believe I believeI sufferfrominsomniasocan I getsome weed prescribed

  46. Think / believevsfind Findemphasisespersonalexperience. I find that great kit encourages & inspires me to exercise I find that my most frequently used emojis explain my emotions and life perfectly

  47. Think and believe do notrequire a basis of personalexperience. Personal evidentiality Inferencecanbebasedonother types of evidence Think Believe Find

  48. Use of believe • Believecanbeused in academictexts. • This is not the case with Dutch geloven. • In Twitter we foundseveralinstances of highlycertainevidentialbelieve • Usuallywithpronounwe

  49. We believe These are "comic books" from the third millennium. We believe they are about fertility goddesses trying to save men with hypertrophy. UO fans support players through good times & bad. Scandal is sensationalized in media, but we believe our peers deserve nothing but respect. There are many ways to serve your community, but we believe we have a duty and honor to help other people! http://mrmn.org/17QyCWA #mormon

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