A Reference Grammar of Kotiria (Wanano)

9. Clause modality

9 Clause modality This chapter completes the description of Kotiria verbal morphology with an examination of clause modality, the only semantic category obligatorily coded on all finite verbal words. The four major categories of clause modality—realis (evidential), irrealis, interrogative, and directive—correspond to three primary sentence types—statements, interrogatives, and directive utterances such as imperatives. Markers in these categories are mutually exclusive and form a single paradigm. The discussion begins with a brief overview of the general syntactic and semantic characteristics of grammaticalized evidentials and a comparison of the present analysis with previous analyses of the Kotiria evidential system (§9.1). The coding of realis statements by evidential markers is the topic of §9.2, which outlines the core and extended semantics of the five evidential categories, their relation to aspectual distinctions, and their inherent epistemic values. Marking of irrealis statements is described in §9.3, followed by a discussion of the semantic links between the interrogative, evidential, and irrealis categories in§9.4. Directive modality and the morphemes coding, among others, imperative , exhortative, and admonitive utterances are the focus of §9.5. Table 9.1 below expands position 6 of table 8.1—the set of verbal morphemes that appear in word-final position. Categories of morphemes discussed in the previous two chapters (positions 1 through 5 of table 8.1—the stem morphemes), which include deontic and attitudinal modal notions, code information related to the event itself. In contrast, the clause modality morphemes occurring in the final position of a finite verb, the subject of this chapter, indicate the speaker’s relationship to the event or state expressed by the verb. Clause modality morphemes form a single paradigm and are mutually exclusive, each subcategory of markers corresponding to one of three specific types of sentences—statements, questions, and directives . A sentence is marked either as a realis statement by one of the evidential categories, as an irrealis statement (predictive or speculative) by one of the irrealis statement markers, as a question by one of the interrogative morphemes, or as a command, warning, admonition, or request for permission by one of the directive morphemes. Evidentials function within this larger paradigm to give information about the speaker’s cognitive relationship to or perspective on the event or state, Clause modality 269 TABLE 9.1. CLAUSE MODALITY STATEMENTS REALIS (EVIDENTIAL) hearsay -yu’ka, -yu’ti visual +i, -ha, +re, +ra nonvisual -koa (-ta)inference +ri hiassertion +a, -ka IRREALIS prediction -ka intention-ta negative -si INTERROGATIVES REALIS imperfective -hari perfective -ri supposition -ka-ri IRREALIS speculation -bo-ri DIRECTIVES imperative +ga permissive -~ba admonitive -ri adversative -kҁru exhortative (~)sa…~(hi’)da via the source of information upon which a statement is based. Evidentials are obligatory on all realis statements, the Kotiria equivalent of the basic declarative sentence. The sorting of clause modality morphemes into “realis” and “irrealis ” sets in the table and in the organization of sections in this chapter is partly a matter of convenience. In fact, it is better to conceptualize realis and irrealis as endpoints of a continuum. The “assertion” category , in particular, should be seen as occupying a sort of transitional zone between realis and irrealis. For discussion of these issues, see§§9.2.5–9.2.7 and §9.3. 9.1 Evidentials: overview and previous analyses The present analysis assumes a basic distinction between evidentiality —a broad semantic category available in some form in every language , for instance the words in bold in the English sentences in (1)— and sets of syntactically and semantically constrained grammatical markers known as evidentials, exemplified in the elements in bold in the Kotiria sentences in (2). 270 Chapter 9 (1) a. I heard the eight o’clock bus go by. b. People say that Karen is dating someone from the office. (2) a. numia ña’aina taa nia koatara ~dubí+a ~ya’á-~ida tá+á ~dí+a woman+PL catch-NOM.PL come+(3)PL be.PROG+(3)PL koá-ta+ra NONVIS-come+VIS.IMPERF.2/3 ‘Women-kidnappers are coming.’ (the speaker hears them) [Ancestors] b. yҁ koiro kҁ˾iro yariawa’ayu’ti yҁ=kó-iro ~kҁ̗ -iro yarí+á=wa’a-yu’ti 1SG.POSS=relative-NOM.SG one-NOM.SG die+AFFEC=go-HSAY.DIFF ‘One of my relatives died.’ (the speaker learned from others) The examples of Kotiria evidentials given in (2) and throughout this chapter conform to the general formal criteria...