Re: Trivalent logic in Aymara?

Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...> wrote:
/snip/
>
> Well, western languages do not always express irrealis mode (or
> the idea of such) pariphrastically. Spanish, for instance, has a
> conjugation called the subjunctive which does not assert the actuality
> of an event or state of affairs. Of course, its not exactly the same
> as the prototypical irrealis, but I think it comes fairly close.
Hmmm... In Spanish (which is my L1 BTW) you use the subjunctive
for irrealis, but still within a paraphrase:

        Dudo     que  venga
      doubt.1s that come.3sSUBJ
      'I doubt that he (will) come'

The subjunctive by itself is used as a wishing formula in 1st
and 2nd person, and a mild imperative or wish in 3rd person:

        Venga       a  nosotros tu   reino
        come.3sSUBJ to us       your kingdom
        '(May) thy kingdom come to us'

and it's really rare.

> What I like to picture is a courtroom with a witness testifying:
>
> Q: Did Caine kill Abel?
> A: Yes, Caine killed (inference) Abel.
> Q: So you did not actually witness Caine killing Abel?
> A: Well, since cynide is (hearsay) poisonous, and Caine gave
>    (direct evidence) Abel some before he knocked (direct
>    evidence) me out, I must say that Caine most certainly DID
>    kill (inference) Abel.
>
> The witness here is absolutely certain that Caine killed Abel, but
> must say so as an inference for he did not actually witnessed it.
> Such a situation makes evidentiality interesting because the
> epistemology of the testimony given by a witness is subject to
> grammatical scrutiny.
A fabulous example. Let me complicate it a bit more: the trial
takes place in a newly conquered province of an empire, and all
the high public charges are occupied by the new masters, who speak
little of the native lang, so the questioner needs a translation. :)

> From the same book ("Describing Morphosyntax" by Thomas Payne), here
> are some samples from another language with the most complex evidentiality
> system that Payne ever saw. It is Tuyuca, a Tucanoan language with an
> evidential paradigm including: visible, non-visible, inferred, hearsay,
> and general knowledge.
/snipped neat examples/

I like those categories. I'll think of some more when I have time. :)
Where's the Tucanoan family spoken?


--Pablo Flores