Evidentiality in the Bulgarian Rhodope Dialects: The Case of the Nominal Marker -n

Abstract

Many languages use specific verbal affixes, particles, or other constructions to indicate evidentiality. In the Bulgarian Rhodope dialects, evidential semantics extend into nominal structures, including tripartite deictics involved in determination. This use reveals that evidentials focus on the opposition visible/invisible as well as on the nature of the source of the statement. The nominal marker -n has preserved and developed a wide range of grammatical and semantics functions that convey subjective nuances influenced by the narrator’s perspective and relational stance towards the reported event. Typical uses can be found in many examples from the folklore songs and oral communication when the experience comes / is gained from an indirect information or the speaker wants to emphasize a distal meaning that may concern time, space and cognitive aspects of the utterance. This work contributes to our understanding of evidentiality’s role in narrative structure and the interaction between tensed nominals and verbal tense, aspect and mood.