The evidential-temporal connection in a language without tense

语言为说话者提供了表明构成其陈述基础的证据类型的方式。当说英语的人用“apparently”修饰一个句子时，他们传达的信息是，他们的证据不是来自直接的第一手经验，而是来自报告或推断。其他语言用专门的证据词素来区分证据，这些词素编码直接的感知证据或间接的推断或推理证据。不同语言在语法上如何表达证据意义有很大的差异，但所传达的证据意义种类却非常少，而且是一致的，这表明语法约束的参与。为了理解证据的语法，研究嵌入动词的句子是富有成效的，这些动词明确编码证据类型，如“看到”，“听到”，“听到”，以及其他允许一系列证据解释的句子，如“说”，“认为”，“相信”。除了在意义上为证据语素提供一个比较点之外，这些动词还允许研究证据是否可以与说话者分离并归因于嵌入动词的主语。嵌入语境中的证据锚定机制可以与时间锚定机制相比较。时间词素在时间上相对于言语语境或嵌入语境中的主句事件来表征事件。理解实据性在嵌入语境中的取向将促进我们对句法结构在编码语言意义的这些方面中的作用的理解。该项目将研究图皮-瓜拉尼族的土著语言--瓜拉尼语中实据性和时间性之间的联系。这种语言没有时态，它的一些证据词素表达时间意义，为时间词素编码证据类别的类型学倾向提供了一个特殊的视角。研究人员将要求以瓜拉尼语为母语的人在上下文中评估和生成句子。书面文本的语料库研究将补充从参与者那里收集的数据。特别感兴趣的将是分布和解释的证据词素在条款下嵌入动词的讲话，思想和perceptions.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

Languages provide ways for speakers to indicate the type of evidence that forms the basis of their statements. When speakers of English modify a sentence with 'apparently', they convey that their evidence comes not from direct first-hand experience, but from either a report or an inference. Other languages make evidential distinctions with specialized evidential morphemes, which encode direct perceptual evidence or indirect reportative or inferential evidence. There is great variety in how evidentiality is expressed grammatically across languages, yet the kinds of evidential meanings that are conveyed are remarkably few and consistent, suggesting the involvement of grammatical constraints. To understand the grammar of evidentiality it is fruitful to study sentences with embedding verbs that explicitly encode evidence type, like 'see', 'hear', 'gather', and others that allow a range of evidential interpretations, like 'say', 'think', 'believe'. In addition to providing a point of comparison for evidential morphemes in terms of meaning, such verbs also allow the study of whether evidence can be dissociated from the speaker and attributed to the subject of the embedding verb. The mechanisms of evidential anchoring in contexts of embedding can be compared to those of temporal anchoring. Temporal morphemes situate events in time relative to the speech context, or to the main clause event in contexts of embedding. Understanding the orientation of evidentials in embedded contexts will advance our understanding of the role of syntactic structure in encoding such aspects of linguistic meaning.The project will study the links between evidentiality and temporality in Paraguayan Guarani, an indigenous language of the Tupi-Guarani family. The language has no tense, and some of its evidential morphemes express temporal meanings, providing a special perspective on the typological tendency for temporal morphemes to encode evidential categories. The researchers will ask native speakers of Paraguayan Guarani to evaluate and produce sentences in context. A corpus study of written texts will supplement the data gathered from participants. Of particular interest will be the distribution and interpretation of evidential morphemes in clauses embedded under verbs of speech, thought and perception.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.