Sobivuses

Sobivuses are a hypothetical category of morphosyntactic markers proposed in speculative linguistics to encode nuanced information about a speaker’s stance toward a proposition and the addressee’s knowledge. In this framework, sobivuses function as small affixes or clitics that attach to verbs or auxiliary constructions and convey two layers of meaning: evidentiality, indicating the source or reliability of information, and social stance, signaling attitudes such as certainty, politeness, or alignment with the listener.

The term is used in theoretical discussions and conlang design to explore how languages might bundle evidential and interpersonal meaning. It remains unattested in documented natural languages, and the concept is debated among linguists. Some researchers divide sobivuses into two broad subtypes: evidential sobivuses, which mark information source, and stance sobivuses, which encode interpersonal relation and alignment with the interlocutor. In proposed systems, sobivuses may appear as verb suffixes, independent particles, or integrated clitics, and they can interact with mood, aspect, and evidential markers.

Critics argue that sobivuses risk overgeneralizing how languages encode social meaning and could complicate syntax and processing. Proponents contend that the framework offers a unified account of cross-cutting evidential and evaluative systems and can illuminate social meaning in complex utterances.

See also: evidentiality, stance marking.