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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Mouton December 30, 2012

Didn't you know? Mirativity does exist!

  • Kees Hengeveld EMAIL logo and Hella Olbertz
From the journal Linguistic Typology

Abstract

This article argues, contra Hill (this volume), that mirativity is an independent linguistic category. It also argues, contra DeLancey (1997), that this category should be defined not only in terms of newsworthiness for the speaker but also in terms of newsworthiness for the addressee, and that expressions of mirativity do not necessarily have an evidential component. These claims are supported by examples of mirative expressions in a number of languages from different genetic stocks. Finally, the article suggests an explanation for the fact that in many languages evidentiality and mirativity are indeed expressed by the same linguistic means.

Published Online: 2012-12-30
Published in Print: 2012-11-27

© 2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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