5.3 Epistemic Modality and Evidentials in Luchuan

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Evidentials in the Shuri Dialect of Luchuan (Ryukyuan) Tomoko Arakaki A thesis submitted in fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences The University of Edinburgh 2010 ⒸCopyright 2010 by Tomoko Arakaki Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis is my own composition, and that it contains no material previously submitted for the award of other degree or qualification. The work reported in this thesis has been executed by myself, except where due acknowledgement is made in the text. Tomoko Arakaki Abstract This dissertation attempts to demonstrate that Luchuan is a language which has a grammatical category of evidentiality. Luchuan is the only sister language of Japanese; however, since they are considered to have diverged as early as the beginning of the 8th century, their vocabularies and grammars have developed in somewhat different directions. The grammatical category of evidentiality is one of the categories which Luchuan has developed in different ways from Japanese. Evidentiality is a linguistic category which marks source of information. Evidentials have often been overlooked in the study of Luchuan, and the morphology has often been misanalysed as belonging to other grammatical categories because of failure to take account of the concept of evidentiality. On the one hand, some existing studies classify these evidential markers as temporal categories, such as tense or aspect, and on the other hand, some studies claim that these evidential markers should belong to the category of modality. I argue that both approaches have failed to describe Luchuan grammar accurately, and that the concept of evidentiality can resolve problems which other existing approaches could not deal with adequately. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the evidentials in Luchuan systematically and to formulate a model of the evidential system of this language. The proposal I make and defend in this dissertation is that Luchuan has a grammatical evidential system which contains one direct evidential and three indirect evidentials (Inference, Assumed, and Reportative). I argue that these four evidential markers should be considered to belong to a single grammatical category. Further, I discuss the relation between evidentials and other grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, and modality. It is obvious that these categories are closely related in Luchuan, but I attempt to tease apart their functions as clearly as possible. The Direct evidential -N is used when the speaker has ‗direct evidence‘, such as direct experience or direct perceptions. When direct evidence is unavailable but ‗the best possible source of information‘ is available, such as a report from a participant in the event, the use of -N is licensed. The Inferential evidential tee is used when the speaker makes an inference based on direct evidence. The Assumed evidential hazi is different from the Inferential evidential in that it does not require i direct evidence, but the speaker‘s assumption has to be based on knowledge of habits or general knowledge. Finally, Reportative evidential Ndi indicates that the speaker acquired information from someone else, mainly orally report but in any case through the use of language. Luchuan is an endangered or moribund language which has very limited native speakers. Therefore, the principal focus of this dissertation is a descriptive study of verb forms whose syntactic features have not been fully described: for example, I set out whether or not each evidential can appear in negative or interrogative sentences, whether or not each evidential can have a non-past or a past form, whether or not each evidential markers can co-occur a subject of any person. Although my primary focus is a description of the evidential system of this language; at the same time, I relate my discussion to cross-linguistic issues such as how evidentiality is related to epistemic modality, with the intention that this work should constitute a contribution to the typological and theoretical study of evidentiality. I propose that evidentiality should be distinguished from the category of modality because in Luchuan the Direct evidential and the Reportative evidential belong to the category of evidentiality, though the other two indirect evidentials ― the Inferential and Assumed― might be regarded as an overlap category between evidentiality and modality. ii Acknowledgements It has taken more than ten years to reach the stage of writing the Acknowledgements. I am deeply, deeply grateful to Caroline Heycock who has been immensely helpful and very patient for these long years. I am always really impressed by her deep interests and curiosity toward language which have made me discover the wonderment of languages. I could have never completed the dissertation without her continual encouragement and insightful comments. I will keep embracing what I have learned from her from now on. I wish to express my gratitude to Jim Miller, who helped me to deepen the quality of the early stage of my research with his in-depth knowledge of various languages. I am indebted to Ronnie Cann for his constructive criticism and valuable comments which greatly inspired me through discussions with him. I am deeply grateful to the late Akio Kamio for teaching me and intriguing me with linguistics at Dokkyo University. I was also fortunate to be able to study with Atsuko Izuyama who has dedicated herself to teaching all facets of linguistics and Luchuan for me. This dissertation would never been written without the two primary consultants. First, my thanks are due to Masako Nakazato, who not only taught me Luchuan but also Okinawan history, tradition, and ways of thinking. Her amazing ability of imagination was invaluable for setting up the necessary contexts to reflect evidentiality. The other consultant is Gikei Arakaki, my father, who has answered my torrents of questions for years. He often told me that the he could not answer the question because the context was not set clearly enough. Through these insightful comments and questions, I noticed how important evidence is for Luchuan speakers. I would like to express my hearty gratitude to the following people for continual encouragements and sharing thoughts from various directions: Kimi Hara, Kenjiro Higa, Kosei Maezato, Madoka Aiki, Estuko Yoshida, Kyoko Otsuki, Catherine Dickie, Yuko Higashiizumi, Takeshi Ito, and Izumi Nishi. I also wish to thank Randolph H. Thrasher and all of my colleagues at Okinawa Christian University and Okinawa Christian Junior College. I would like to thank my husband, son, and all of my family (parents and brothers) who are likely to be even more pleased at the completion of this iii dissertation than I am. My final thanks are due to my grandparents, and our ancestors who have preserved our language, Luchuan, for us. iv Conventions Phonetic symbols In this dissertation I use broad transcriptions. Instead of using special phonetic symbols, I attempt to utilize simple symbols as much as possible. Basically I follow the description used in the Dictionary of the Okinawan Language (1963), although when citing other authors I respect their descriptions and use the forms as other authors have originally described them. [hw,hu] for a labial fricative [ʔ] for a glottal stop [c] for a voiceless palato-alveolar affricate [z] for a voiced palato-alveolar affricate/fricative [sj] for a palatal-alveolar fricative [j] for a palatal semi-vowel [N] for a syllabic uvular nasal [Q] for a syllabic voiceless consonant v List of Abbreviation ASSUM : assumed evidential AP: adverbial particle CON: continuative COP: copula COMP: complementizer FC: focus FP: final particle GEN: genitive case IMPF: imperfective IRR: irrealis INF: inferential evidential LOC: locative M: mood NEG: negation NM: nominative case PART : (past) participle PAST: past tense PAS: passive PERF: perfective aspect PROG: progressive PL: plural Q: question QUOT: quotative RES: resultative aspect REP: reportative evidential TOP: topicalization vi Contents Abstract ･･････････････････････････････････････････････････････i Acknowledgement ･･･････････････････････････････････････････ iii Conventions ･････････････････････････････････････････････････ v List of Abbreviation ･･････････････････････････････････････････ vi Contents ････････････････････････････････････････････････････vii Chapter 1 Introduction ･･･････････････････････････････････････1 1.1 Aim of the study ･･････････････････････････････････････････1 1.2 Background of Ryukyu ･････････････････････････････････････3 1.2.1 Historical background and present situation of Okinawa Prefecture ･･････････････････････････････････････････3

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