semantics and pragmatics of evidentials in cuzco quechua

216 CHAPTER 6. FURTHER IMPLICATIONS
(177) a. If the ball was reportedly over the line, the matter should be investigated
further.
b. If the cook obviously won’t poison the soup, we can eat the meal without
worrying.
For (177a), the question is whether the speaker is saying that the matter should be
investigated further if (i) the ball was over the line, or if (ii) it is reported that (i)
holds. It is clear that the speaker makes (ii) the condition for further investigation.
Similarly, it is clear for (177b) that the speaker says that we can eat without worrying
if it is obvious that the cook won’t poison the soup. Since reportedly and obviously
are in the scope of if in these examples, Ifantidou-Trouki (1993) concludes that they
are part of the proposition expressed, and should therefore not be analyzed as speech
actmodifiersasproposedelsewhere.
In this respect, evidential sentential adverbials contrast with two other types of
sentential adverbials, namely illocutionary adverbials such as frankly, honestly, and
attitudinal adverbials such as unfortunately, sadly, which Ifantidou shows to not
contribute to the truth conditions of the sentence by applying the same test. Consider
the examples in (178).
(178) a. If Paul’s car was, sadly, stolen, he will start using the underground.
b. If John’s book has frankly sold very little, you shouldn’t be surprised.
The speaker of (178a) is saying that Paul will start using the underground if it is
true that Paul’s car was stolen. (S)he is not saying that Paul will start using the
underground if it is true that it is sad that Paul’s car was stolen. Similarly, the
speaker of (178b) is saying that the addressee should not be surprised if it is true that
(i) John’s book has sold very little, but not if it is true that (ii) I tell you frankly
that (i). Thus, sadly and frankly do, according to the test, not contribute to the
proposition expressed.
not grammaticalized. However, it is of secondary concern to the present discussion whether or not
these adverbials are evidentials according to this morphosyntactic criterion. What is of interest here,
is the behavior of their evidential meaning component with respect to this test.