The Evidentiality through reported speech: Pragma-linguistic factors affecting its reliability

Abstract

This study focuses on reportative evidential that contains statements of a specific and commonly known individual with interlocutors regarding the quality of evidence s/he claimed to have, his/her trustworthiness as a person, linguistic markers, turn designs, emotional state, epistemic authority, as factors which determine the reliability of information vouched through reported speech. We collected 28 conversations in which informants were asked to convey information derived from someone well or weakly known. Topics were chiefly related to events expected to occur, films and other informative assertions. Then, respondents delivered their main reasons about (not) trusting the reported speech/speaker and regarding the modals within RS or in the assessment part. They were urged to share common conclusions about its reliability. We found out that epistemological assessment of reported speech originally derived by a well-known person is crucially related to the reported speaker’s usual shown sincerity, words chosen, while of a weakly known individual with his/her competency and quality of evidence, which can define the information as “first-hand” or not worth considering.