Evidentiality in Uzbek and Kazakh
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| ma-di-m. (Uz)
just that serial past month- PL - LOC Turkey station-3- LOC also give- PASS - PST , but see- NEG - PST -1 SG ‘That serial was also shown on the Turkish station, but I didn’t see it.’ 1 (107) Nazarbayev Qarağandï metallurgiya zawït-ï-nda žumïs iste-di. (Kaz) Nazarbayev Karagandy metallurgy factory-3- LOC work work- PST .3 SG ‘Nazarbayev worked in a Karagandy metallurgy factory.’ Under a system where evidentiality is truly paradigmatic, we would expect that it would be impossible to discuss the events in (106) and (107) without employing the a marker of indirect evidentiality, as the speakers could not possibly have firsthand knowledge of the events described. Although ekan/eken do express indirect evidential meaning, the lack of a corresponding direct evidential term indicates that it is more sensible to examine these forms within the previously described confirmativity paradigm. Because a speaker has the option of employing 1 2010. ZiyoUz – Haqiqiy o’zbekona forum. Accessed 27 Jan 2011. forum.ziyouz.com/index.php?action=printpage;topic=5263.0 93 other forms when describing unwitnessed events, we can summarize the relationships among the ekan/eken and other past tense forms in the following table: Table 28: Confirmative and Evidential Features C ONFIRMATIVE N ON -F IRSTHAND P AST -di/-DI + Ø P ERFECT -gan/–GAn Ø Ø CP AST -ib/–(I)p - Ø ekan/eken - + Due to the formal markedness of ekan/eken, their resulting meanings encompass both non- firsthand information source and non-confirmativity: (108) Ona-otam-ning aytishlaricha bu park juda chiroyli bo’l-gan ekan. (Uz) Parents- GEN according.to this park very beautiful be- PRF EVID ‘According to my parents, this park used to be very beautiful.’ (109) Awğanstan boyïnša, beysenbi-de 26 adam qaza bol-ğan eken. (Kaz) Afghanistan according.to, Thursday- LOC 26 men dead be- PRF EVID ‘According to Afghanistan, 26 men died on Thursday.’ 2 As seen in (108) and (109), it is especially common for sentences with overt source of information (as indicated by forms meaning ‘according to’: aytish(lar)(i)cha, boyïnša) to contain the evidential. In these examples, the speaker is not only iterating that a third person is the source of information, but also expressing unwillingness to confirm the truth of the utterances. In (108), the speaker has been told by his parents that the park in question used to be beautiful, but because he has never actually seen the park in that state, he is unwilling to confirm it. Example (109) is particularly interesting because it is taken from a news report from Azattïq Radiyosï, which is the Kazakh branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Given the sensitive situation in Afghanistan at the time of writing, the authors of the news report were careful not 2 2007. Azattïq Radiyo, 24 Aug. Accessed 21 Jan 2011. http://www.azattyq.org/content/article/1175315.html 94 only to overtly express the source of information, but also to emphasize their unwillingness to confirm the report by employing eken. A particularly interesting example of the use of the evidential in non-confirmative context comes from an Uzbek message board in which the participants are discussing the case of a woman whose passport states that she is 128 years old 3 . The participants are understandably dubious about this sort of claim, which they believe to be the result of poor record keeping: (110) Agar tarixchi-lar tamonidan bu ma'lumot tasdiqla-n-sa, record-ni yangilar ekan. Rekord 122 bo'l-gan ekan. (Uz) If historian. PL by this information confirm- PASS - COND record- ACC news EVID . Record 122 be- PRF EVID . ‘If this is confirmed by historians, then it’s (apparently) a new record. The record is (supposed to have beeen) 122.’ (111) tug'ri, V.I. Lenin bilan tengdosh ekan-la. (Uz) True, V.I. Lenin with same.age EVID - PL ‘True, they’re apparently the same age as V.I. Lenin.’ Throughout the discussion, the participants employ ekan to refer back to the source of information (in this case, a BBC report), as well as to express their unwillingness to confirm such a preposterous story. Concerns over poor Soviet and Russian record-keeping may also be found in Kazakh forums, where it is similarly common to express doubt over reported birth years: (112) Yusupova Särbi, 1928 žïl-ï tuwïl-ğan eken. (Kaz) Yusupova Särbi 1928 year-3 be.born- PRF EVID ‘Yusupova Särbi was born in 1928.’ 4 (113) Bala-lar, Š. Qanayulï 1818 žïl-ï tuwïl-ğan eken , olay bol-sa o-nïŋ ömir sür-gen kez-in-de-gi tarixi žağday-lar turala ne ayt-a al-a-sïŋ-dar? (Kaz) Child- PL , Š Qanayulï 1818 year-3 be.born- PRF EVID , thus be- COND he- GEN life span- PRF time-3- LOC - ATTR historical condition- PL about what say- CVB BE . ABLE - PRES -2- PL 3 2009. “128-year-old woman in Uzbekistan becomes world oldest” Arbuz. Accessed 20 Jan 2011. http://www.arbuz.com/showthread.php?t=50571 4 Naubet. Accessed 21 Jan 2011. http://naubet.ucoz.kz/index/0-12 95 ‘Children, Š. Qanayulï was (reportedly) born in 1818; if that is so, what can you say about the historical conditions during his lifespan?’ 5 Example (113) is especially illustrative of this phenomenon. The use of eken both refers back to the historical records regarding the Qanayulï’s date of birth, as well as expresses doubt as to the veracity of these records. The second part of the sentence, beginning with the contestive olay bolsa ‘if that is so’ further reinforces the doubt expressed by eken. Further evidence of the non-confirmative characteristics of ekan/eken lies in the ability of the proposition they express to be challenged or denied. As speakers explicitly state that they are not responsible for the content of statements when they employ ekan/eken, this is to be expected: (114) alohida pullik xonalar bor ekan ammo boshqalaridan farqi yo'q (Uz) unique paid room- PL EXIST EVID but other- PL -3- ABL difference-3 NEG . EXIST ‘There are (reportedly) unique hotel rooms, but there’s not difference from any others.’ 6 (115) Qonaq.üy bölme-ler-i konditsioner-men žïlït-ïl-a-dï eken, biraq bölme-m žïlï-ma-y qal-dï. (Kaz) Hotel room- PL -3 conditioner-with heat- PASS - PRES -3 EVID , but room-1 SG warm- NEG - CVB stay- PST .3 ‘The hotel rooms are apparently heated with air conditioners, but my room never warmed up.’ The fact that speakers may challenge their own statements when ekan/eken is present demonstrates the non-confirmative nature of these morphemes; it would be infelicitous for similar challenges to occur were the confirmative past -di/-DI present. 5 Adamzat. Accessed 21 Jan 2011. www.sabak.adamzat.kz/ru/jukteuler/category/7.html?download=867 6 2009. “Bepullikka bepullu.” Farzand.uz, 9 Dec. Accessed 25 Jan 2011. http://www.farzand.uz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&p=687 96 Yüklə Dostları ilə paylaş:
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