Evidentiality

Grammar that forces speakers to state how they know: witnessed, inferred, or heard from others.

Core Principles & Analysis

• In Quechua and Turkish, an unmarked claim of second-hand knowledge is ungrammatical or misleading.
• Some Amazonian languages distinguish four or more evidence types in the verb.
• English does the same work optionally with "apparently" and "I hear" — evidential languages make it mandatory.