Evidentiality in Argumentative Discourse

Abstract

This article is aimed at making a cross-linguistic analysis of evidentials and their meaning in German and Kazakh argumentative discourse. It provides an overview of similarities and differences of expression of evidentials in two typologically different languages. The comparative analysis of the argumentation in the cognitive-intercultural aspect using the example of typologically different languages makes it possible to find out the peculiarities of expressive means of this category in the discourse. In the present paper, we made an attempt to define the types of grammatical means of evidentials that determine the source of information since they contribute greatly to the development of cognitive-pragmatic functions in the discourse. Evidentiality expresses a source of information and reflects the subjective opinion of the speaker, the degree of the speaker"s knowledge of the objective situation and his/her beliefs, assumptions, and attitudes to objective reality in the argumentative discourse. The conducted linguistic analysis in two typologically different languages helped to identify two basic types of information that determine the subjective character of argumentative discoursereliable and indirect information. Argumentation is based on reliable information known to the subject due to his/her personal experience or observations. On the indirect information, the subject cannot pass a reliable judgment without making certain logical conclusions. The cross-linguistic analysis of evidentials and their meaning in German and Kazakh argumentative discourse showed that the speaker"s degree of awareness and nature of knowledge, and the degree of subjective confidence in the reliability of the things said are reflected in the semantics of modal words.