evidentialit

Evidentiality refers to grammatical marking or expression of the source of information or the speaker's degree of certainty about the proposition being communicated. It is a linguistic feature found in many languages worldwide, though its specific forms and functions vary significantly. Languages that exhibit evidentiality often have dedicated grammatical markers, such as suffixes, prefixes, or auxiliary verbs, that encode information about how the speaker knows what they are saying. These markers can distinguish between information acquired through direct personal experience (e.g., "I saw it"), through hearsay (e.g., "I heard it"), or through inference (e.g., "I deduce it"). Some languages also mark the type of evidence, such as sensory information, visual evidence, or auditory evidence. The presence and complexity of evidential systems are diverse; some languages have highly developed systems with numerous categories, while others may have only a basic distinction or none at all. Evidentiality is distinct from modality, which typically concerns possibility, necessity, or obligation, although there can be overlap in certain expressions. The study of evidentiality is an important area of linguistic typology and cross-linguistic research, offering insights into how speakers conceptualize and convey knowledge.