The project intends to explore what a model of grammar should look like in order to explain how the knowledge of the speaker and listener are expressed in morphosyntax. In particular, the aim of the postdoc’s work is to propose a way to incorporate evidentiality, egophoricity, and mirativity into a formal theory of grammar. Wiltschko’s (2014, 2021) universal and interactional spine hypothesis can form a starting point in this endeavour. We hope to find answers to the following questions:
- Which aspects of evidentiality/egophoricity/mirativity are indeed syntactic?
- What is the role of agreement in accounting for the connections between higher (e.g. Speaker and Addressee Ground) and lower areas of the spine, if any?
- Are there structurally/formally/theoretically different ways in which interactional aspects integrate in the grammar, differing between languages and/or between such aspects?
- What can co-expression of different aspects of epistemicity tell us about the possible underspecification and multifunctionality of the spine and/or formal features?
Can the interpretational effects be accounted for by more basic features? For example, how do deictic features play a role (self/nonself, Rooryck 2019)?
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With the answers to these questions, we gain insights into how aspects of intersubjective epistemicity can be part of the grammar and how this can vary crosslinguistically. This will contribute to a more encompassing model of linguistic competency, taking into account linguistic phenomena outside of European languages and embracing the influence of the speaker and addressee on the grammar.
This project is a sister project to the MapLE project , which means that the rich data gathered by the collaborators of the MapLE project can inspire the theoretical development in this Ammodo project, and vice versa, the insights and predictions from the developing model can be taken along and tested by the MapLE collaborators. The PI of the MapLE project (Jenneke van der Wal) will be working in parallel on a theoretical analysis of engagement and information structure.
For a fuller background and description of the postdoc project, see this document . See also the upcoming SLE workshop related to the project, ‘The morphosyntax of who knows what and how in interaction’ on 26-29 August, which the successful candidate is invited to attend.
