A Study of the Evidentiality Category in Piandin Naxi
This paper by Wang Yijun and Liu Jun (Guizhou Ethnic Studies, No. 7, 2019) examines the evidentiality system of Piandin Naxi, a variety of the western Lijiang dialect spoken in Piandin Village, Dadong Township, Lijiang. Drawing on Aikhenvald's and Lidz's typological frameworks, the authors identify five evidential subcategories — direct experience, inference, conjecture, hearsay, and quotation — expressed mainly through function words, semi-grammaticalized words, phrase structures, or zero forms rather than obligatory syntax. They document specific markers (jɤ33 for direct experience, kha55 for inference, ŋɯ+55/ŋe55 for hearsay, tsɿ55/ŋe55 for quotation), analyze their interaction with aspect and modality categories, and describe their syntactic positions, which are not entirely fixed. The paper concludes that evidentiality marking in Naxi is optional rather than obligatory, and that its syntactic distribution is governed mainly by cognitive modality and discourse pragmatics rather than strict grammatical rules.
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