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Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 12: Selected papers from the 45th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Campinas, Brazil
Edited by Ruth E.V. Lopes, Juanito Ornelas de Avelar and Sonia M. L. Cyrino
[Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 12] 2017
► pp. 185–198

Chapter 12
Epistemic uses of the verb decir in La Paz Spanish

Digamos and dice

| Department of Romance Studies and Classics, Stockholm University

This paper explores semantic extensions and pragmatic functions of two evidential forms found in La Paz Spanish, digamos ‘let’s say’ and dice ‘s/he says’. Both forms are inflected forms of the verb decir ‘to say’. The form dice ‘s/he says’ has the function of a reported evidential form, conforming to results from previous studies (Babel 2009; Olbertz 2007; Travis 2006; Laprade 1981), while the form digamos is used according to a previously unnoticed function of an inferential evidential.

Keywords: indirect evidentiality, epistemic modality, stance, grammaticalisation
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Evidentiality, modality and stance
  • The evidential marker dizque in American Spanish
  • Materials, participants and method
  • The analysis of dice
    • Functions of dice
    • Syntactic placement, semantic scope and pragmatic implications of dice
  • The analysis of digamos
    • Functions of digamos
    • Syntactic placement, semantic scope and pragmatic features of digamos
  • Discussion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.12.12qua
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