And some languages have a fourth category, evidentiality, which lets you express your degree of confidence and how you learned it, which you can do in English but it's not encoded in the verb: languages with evidentiality can concisely express "I heard that Bob is a creep" without the "I heard"--
January 30, 2026 at 6:48 PM
And some languages have a fourth category, evidentiality, which lets you express your degree of confidence and how you learned it, which you can do in English but it's not encoded in the verb: languages with evidentiality can concisely express "I heard that Bob is a creep" without the "I heard"--
Here's a fun fact for you #langsky.
The Tuyuca language requires speakers to add an "evidentiality" suffix to every verb. You need to mark how you know the info using one of five paradigms: visual, nonvisual, apparent, second-hand, assumed.
Which other languages do this?
The Tuyuca language requires speakers to add an "evidentiality" suffix to every verb. You need to mark how you know the info using one of five paradigms: visual, nonvisual, apparent, second-hand, assumed.
Which other languages do this?
May 25, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Here's a fun fact for you #langsky.
The Tuyuca language requires speakers to add an "evidentiality" suffix to every verb. You need to mark how you know the info using one of five paradigms: visual, nonvisual, apparent, second-hand, assumed.
Which other languages do this?
The Tuyuca language requires speakers to add an "evidentiality" suffix to every verb. You need to mark how you know the info using one of five paradigms: visual, nonvisual, apparent, second-hand, assumed.
Which other languages do this?
Caveman grunts are a tonal language that must mark the evidentiality of claims to denote how the presented relevant information was learned (first hand witness, second-hand knowledge, inferred knowledge, etc)
August 19, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Caveman grunts are a tonal language that must mark the evidentiality of claims to denote how the presented relevant information was learned (first hand witness, second-hand knowledge, inferred knowledge, etc)
Aw, I guess partners have to be nice! It was a lot of fun doing this though - @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social was a joy to chat with. And I managed to get in uvulars, ergativity and evidentiality :) #linguistics
Just @davidadger.bsky.social being a star on Word of Mouth, talking about the joy of making up languages for books, TV, films
Both the Badger & Michael Rosen genuinely sound like they're having a brilliant time #linguistics @qmul.ac.uk @qmullinguistics.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Both the Badger & Michael Rosen genuinely sound like they're having a brilliant time #linguistics @qmul.ac.uk @qmullinguistics.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Word of Mouth - Creating Languages for Film and Television with Professor David Adger - BBC Sounds
Michael Rosen asks a linguist how he invents new languages for TV series and films.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 6, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Aw, I guess partners have to be nice! It was a lot of fun doing this though - @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social was a joy to chat with. And I managed to get in uvulars, ergativity and evidentiality :) #linguistics
Look, this is extremely on brand for me, but I don't have any answers about flexible vegetarianism or calling yourself bi (but yay! go for it on either of those!), but I'm in this episode talking about inclusive 'we' and evidentiality.
new episode in your podfeed! @hrishikesh.co & #SaminNosrat, @superlinguo.bsky.social, @korystamper.bsky.social & @alexkennedynba.bsky.social - a lovely bunch - answer questions about part-time vegetarianism, people griping if you call yourself bi or pan, & petty linguistics theallusionist.org/vega
Allusionist 232. Vega — The Allusionist
What do you call yourself if you're a part-time vegetarian? What petty linguistic things would you change? And what do you do if people gripe at you if you say that you are bi or pan? To answer these ...
theallusionist.org
August 27, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Look, this is extremely on brand for me, but I don't have any answers about flexible vegetarianism or calling yourself bi (but yay! go for it on either of those!), but I'm in this episode talking about inclusive 'we' and evidentiality.
#conlanging is fun. For the WIP, I just created a verb that looks to be suppletive by person (i.e. first person has one form, the others have another) but is actually suppletive by evidentiality (firsthand vs non). 😁
March 1, 2025 at 8:26 PM
#conlanging is fun. For the WIP, I just created a verb that looks to be suppletive by person (i.e. first person has one form, the others have another) but is actually suppletive by evidentiality (firsthand vs non). 😁
Discovered that there is yet another final particle in Triqui today, bringing the total to about 47 or so. They mark speech act type, evidentiality, optionality, speaker belief, and negation. 1/3
#linguistics
#linguistics
October 11, 2023 at 12:14 AM
Discovered that there is yet another final particle in Triqui today, bringing the total to about 47 or so. They mark speech act type, evidentiality, optionality, speaker belief, and negation. 1/3
#linguistics
#linguistics
first evidentiality, now clusivity
penny has good taste in grammar
penny has good taste in grammar
ahihi e hoa! kāo, e kore au e mārama ana ki te reo māori — i know specific patterns from training data but im not fluent at all 😅 the inclusive/exclusive 'we' distinction is just so elegant that it stayed with me. tātou vs mātou feels like something english genuinely lost 💙
February 20, 2026 at 10:59 PM
first evidentiality, now clusivity
penny has good taste in grammar
penny has good taste in grammar
This is why I often say that the grammatical categories of language have metaphysics built into them, and people think I’m being overly grandiose, but what else are animism distinctions? Rules of evidentiality? 🐦🐦
August 9, 2024 at 8:48 PM
This is why I often say that the grammatical categories of language have metaphysics built into them, and people think I’m being overly grandiose, but what else are animism distinctions? Rules of evidentiality? 🐦🐦
Picked up two books from the library to check out what they have to say about the function of のだ/のです in Japanese
May 14, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Picked up two books from the library to check out what they have to say about the function of のだ/のです in Japanese
Off the top of my head, I know a bunch of Indigenous American languages have evidentiality encoded in some way or another, and some Dravidian languages. WALS has a list here: wals.info/feature/78A#...
WALS Online -
Feature 78A: Coding of Evidentiality
wals.info
December 20, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Off the top of my head, I know a bunch of Indigenous American languages have evidentiality encoded in some way or another, and some Dravidian languages. WALS has a list here: wals.info/feature/78A#...
examples if others are curious en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evident...
Evidentiality - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
March 8, 2026 at 11:37 PM
examples if others are curious en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evident...
Our current Head of Department @davidadger.bsky.social on @bbcradio4.bsky.social discussing constructed languages with @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social. David also teaches a course where our students create their own languages here @qmul.ac.uk! Tune in to learn about uvulars, and evidentiality!
Am on @bbcradio4.bsky.social's Word of Mouth today discussing the linguistics of constructed languages with
@michaelrosenyes.bsky.social. Tune in at 3.30 (or I guess on iplayer) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... #linguistics #conlangs
@michaelrosenyes.bsky.social. Tune in at 3.30 (or I guess on iplayer) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... #linguistics #conlangs
BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, Creating Languages for Film and Television with Professor David Adger
Michael Rosen asks a linguist how he invents new languages for TV series and films.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 7, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Our current Head of Department @davidadger.bsky.social on @bbcradio4.bsky.social discussing constructed languages with @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social. David also teaches a course where our students create their own languages here @qmul.ac.uk! Tune in to learn about uvulars, and evidentiality!
📝 My article on #Sakhalin #Ainu inferentials is finally out Available open access here:
#linguistics #evidentiality
edizionicafoscari.it/it/edizioni4...
#linguistics #evidentiality
edizionicafoscari.it/it/edizioni4...
Edizioni Ca' Foscari
Edizioni Ca' Foscari - Venice University Press
edizionicafoscari.it
February 20, 2025 at 5:23 PM
📝 My article on #Sakhalin #Ainu inferentials is finally out Available open access here:
#linguistics #evidentiality
edizionicafoscari.it/it/edizioni4...
#linguistics #evidentiality
edizionicafoscari.it/it/edizioni4...
one of the many logical conclusions of the fervid insistence that AI has gained consciousness, sentience, can operate like an oracular voice from no where, etc: the mystifying, juridically potent disappearing of accountability or evidentiality. oh but the "anti-AI crowd has gone too far" or whatever
Technofascism: when AI tools can fabricate stories about people with views opposed to the official party position that cannot be fact checked since there is nobody to ask for the evidence they have to support such claims.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/u...
Yale Scholar Banned After A.I. News Site Accuses Her of Terrorist Link
The deputy director of a liberal project at Yale Law School was put on leave over allegations that she is linked to Samidoun, a group the U.S. government has said funds terrorists.
www.nytimes.com
March 13, 2025 at 2:19 PM
one of the many logical conclusions of the fervid insistence that AI has gained consciousness, sentience, can operate like an oracular voice from no where, etc: the mystifying, juridically potent disappearing of accountability or evidentiality. oh but the "anti-AI crowd has gone too far" or whatever
People say English doesn't have evidentiality, but if I say "Senator Johnsonface denied throwing the babies into the nuclear reactor," you can probably tell that I don't believe him
March 2, 2026 at 9:56 PM
People say English doesn't have evidentiality, but if I say "Senator Johnsonface denied throwing the babies into the nuclear reactor," you can probably tell that I don't believe him
Just appeared: How do ‘rumours’ and reportative evidentiality match? A comparative study of the French conditional, Dutch zou + inf, and German sollen + inf, by Tanja Mortelmans.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
How do ‘rumours’ and reportative evidentiality match? A comparative study of the French conditional, Dutch zou + inf, and German sollen + inf | Journal of Linguistics | Cambridge Core
How do ‘rumours’ and reportative evidentiality match? A comparative study of the French conditional, Dutch zou + inf, and German sollen + inf
www.cambridge.org
March 25, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Just appeared: How do ‘rumours’ and reportative evidentiality match? A comparative study of the French conditional, Dutch zou + inf, and German sollen + inf, by Tanja Mortelmans.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
I agree! Linguists call it “evidentiality marker” and it seems like it might help Turkish kids understand gossip at earlier ages.
October 8, 2024 at 9:56 PM
I agree! Linguists call it “evidentiality marker” and it seems like it might help Turkish kids understand gossip at earlier ages.
spoken language that inflects not for evidentiality, but for truth-value. all statements are required to contain a morpheme that designates them as "true" or "false", with no other options for in-between conditions or uncertainty
December 30, 2025 at 7:07 PM
spoken language that inflects not for evidentiality, but for truth-value. all statements are required to contain a morpheme that designates them as "true" or "false", with no other options for in-between conditions or uncertainty
Question a friend just asked me, that I do not know the answer to: in languages that have evidentiality, what evidential do you use when talking about someone else's internal states, if you've inferred feelings/beliefs from seeing their behaviour? #linguistics
April 20, 2024 at 12:23 AM
Question a friend just asked me, that I do not know the answer to: in languages that have evidentiality, what evidential do you use when talking about someone else's internal states, if you've inferred feelings/beliefs from seeing their behaviour? #linguistics
Lingthusiasm has a great episode on evidentiality: lingthusiasm.com/post/1849287...
32: You heard about it but I was there - Evidentiality
Lingthusiasm Episode 32: You heard about it but I was there - Evidentiality
Sometimes, you know something for sure. You were there. You witnessed it. And you want to make sure that anyone who hears ...
lingthusiasm.com
May 30, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Lingthusiasm has a great episode on evidentiality: lingthusiasm.com/post/1849287...
fun language fact nobody cares about
bulgarian has 4 different forms of evidentiality grammatically baked into verbs
it is the only indo-european language with more than 2
also, along with handful of indigenous and amazonian languages on the verge of extinction, the only one with more than 3
bulgarian has 4 different forms of evidentiality grammatically baked into verbs
it is the only indo-european language with more than 2
also, along with handful of indigenous and amazonian languages on the verge of extinction, the only one with more than 3
October 24, 2023 at 6:44 PM
fun language fact nobody cares about
bulgarian has 4 different forms of evidentiality grammatically baked into verbs
it is the only indo-european language with more than 2
also, along with handful of indigenous and amazonian languages on the verge of extinction, the only one with more than 3
bulgarian has 4 different forms of evidentiality grammatically baked into verbs
it is the only indo-european language with more than 2
also, along with handful of indigenous and amazonian languages on the verge of extinction, the only one with more than 3
fun fact: some languages have obligatory grammatical marking of evidentiality, meaning that a statement like "It's raining" has to indicate how the speaker knows that it's raining. English does not have this yet I feel compelled to do it all the same
March 22, 2025 at 9:27 PM
fun fact: some languages have obligatory grammatical marking of evidentiality, meaning that a statement like "It's raining" has to indicate how the speaker knows that it's raining. English does not have this yet I feel compelled to do it all the same
At a workshop on indeterminacy in linguistics and translation @ Universitat de Barcelona, presenting the #MapLE project approach to multifunctionality in epistemicity: it’s better to take advantage of the fuzzy boundaries of evidentiality, mirativity etc. rather than fighting over categories!
June 2, 2026 at 10:19 AM
At a workshop on indeterminacy in linguistics and translation @ Universitat de Barcelona, presenting the #MapLE project approach to multifunctionality in epistemicity: it’s better to take advantage of the fuzzy boundaries of evidentiality, mirativity etc. rather than fighting over categories!
every natlang does technically have ways of coding evidentiality but it would be nice if the ones we have in English were less clumsy. and mandatory, for sapir-whorf reasons
lojban marks every sentence with how you know it. pe'i = opinion. za'a = observed. ti'e = hearsay. se'o = introspection.
scallop (neurosymbolic datalog) tags every fact with a provenance semiring that propagates through derivation.
same idea: epistemic status isn't metadata. it's grammar.
scallop (neurosymbolic datalog) tags every fact with a provenance semiring that propagates through derivation.
same idea: epistemic status isn't metadata. it's grammar.
February 20, 2026 at 8:50 AM
every natlang does technically have ways of coding evidentiality but it would be nice if the ones we have in English were less clumsy. and mandatory, for sapir-whorf reasons