Evidential markers

A. In many languages, when one states something, one must also indicate how one learned the statement, through seeing, hearing, general sense, or the like. In English, we can say I saw that they are tearing down the building, but it is quite proper to just say They are tearing down the building. In many languages, such a sentence would be as incomplete as They tearing down building would be to us.

B. Tuyuca is spoken in the Amazon and has several such markers:

Evidential markers in Tuyuca:

C. The way these markers develop is through the grammaticalization that we examined earlier. For example, in the North American Native American language Makah, to say that from what one sees, the weather is bad, one says, “it’s bad weather,” then a suffix is added, meaning that the statement is based on seeing something, -pid. The -pid started out as a separate verb meaning “it is seen” but eroded and grammaticalized into becoming an evidential marker.

Makah:

wikicaxak-pid

“It’s bad weather—from what it looks like.” (“Looks like bad weather.”)

D. Importantly, evidential markers like this are not necessary. In all languages, one might specify how one learned something, but it is a frill to have to indicate it as an obligation. Grammaticalization has a way of taking a ball and running with it: what begins as an indication of something concrete and necessary often devolves into a useless habit.