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Evidentiality and the structure of speech acts

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TypeOfResource
Text
TitleInfo (ID = T-1)
Title
Evidentiality and the structure of speech acts
Identifier
ETD_2961
Identifier (type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000056638
Language
LanguageTerm (authority = ISO639-2); (type = code)
eng
Genre (authority = marcgt)
theses
Subject (ID = SBJ-1); (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Linguistics
Subject (ID = SBJ-2); (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Evidentials (Linguistics)
Subject (ID = SBJ-3); (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Speech acts (Linguistics)
Abstract (type = abstract)
Many languages grammatically mark evidentiality, i.e., the source of information. In assertions, evidentials indicate the source of information of the speaker while in questions they indicate the expected source of information of the addressee. This dissertation examines the semantics and pragmatics of evidentiality and illocutionary mood, set within formal theories of meaning and discourse. The empirical focus is the evidential system of Cheyenne (Algonquian: Montana), which is analyzed based on several years of fieldwork by the author. In Cheyenne, evidentials are part of the illocutionary mood paradigm. Based on this grammatical system and crosslinguistic data in the literature, I propose a new theory of evidentials. I argue that evidentials contribute not-at-issue content, which cannot be directly challenged or denied. This content is added directly to the common ground, without negotiation. In contrast, at-issue content, the main point of a sentence, is proposed to the common ground, up for negotiation. This analysis of evidentials implies a more articulated theory of assertion and other speech acts. In particular, I argue that all speech acts are structured into three components: presentation of the at-issue proposition, a non-negotiable update that directly restricts the common ground, and a negotiable update that imposes structure on the common ground. I implement this proposal in an update semantics with individual, modal, and propositional discourse referents. The distinction between at- issue and not-at-issue information comes out as an instance of grammatical centering in the modal domain. The presentation of the at-issue proposition is modeled as the introduction of a propositional discourse referent. This predicts that only the at-issue proposition can be referred to in subsequent discourse, and the non-challengeability of the evidential falls out as a special case of propositional anaphora. The proposed analysis can be extended to evidentials and related phenomena in other languages. While there are real crosslinguistic differences in the behavior of evidentials, there are also many commonalities. The proposed analysis captures the properties that all evidential systems share, but is fine-grained enough to account for variation. On this analysis, evidentials crosslinguistically form a natural semantic class.
PhysicalDescription
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electronic resource
Extent
xix, 266 p. : ill.
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application/pdf
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text/xml
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = vita)
Includes vita
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Sarah E. Murray
Name (ID = NAME-1); (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Murray
NamePart (type = given)
Sarah E.
NamePart (type = date)
1981-
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author
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Sarah Murray
Name (ID = NAME-2); (type = personal)
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Bittner
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Maria
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chair
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Advisory Committee
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Maria Bittner
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Schwarzschild
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Roger
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internal member
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Advisory Committee
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Roger Schwarzschild
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Stone
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Matthew
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internal member
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Advisory Committee
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Matthew Stone
Name (ID = NAME-5); (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Groenendijk
NamePart (type = given)
Jeroen
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outside member
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Advisory Committee
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Jeroen Groenendijk
Name (ID = NAME-1); (type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
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degree grantor
Name (ID = NAME-2); (type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
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school
OriginInfo
DateCreated (qualifier = exact)
2010
DateOther (qualifier = exact); (type = degree)
2010-10
Place
PlaceTerm (type = code)
xx
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
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TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
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NjNbRU
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3RX9BTJ
Genre (authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights

RightsDeclaration (AUTHORITY = GS); (ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
RightsHolder (ID = PRH-1); (type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Murray
GivenName
Sarah
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent (AUTHORITY = rulib); (ID = RE-1)
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
2010-09-30 15:57:24
AssociatedEntity (AUTHORITY = rulib); (ID = AE-1)
Role
Copyright holder
Name
Sarah Murray
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject (AUTHORITY = rulib); (ID = AO-1)
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
RightsEvent
Type
Embargo
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (point = start)
2017-04-01
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (point = end)
2018-04-30
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author’s request. It will be publicly available after April 30, 2018.
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Technical

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ETD
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application/pdf
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application/x-tar
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1771520
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