Evidentiality in Uzbek and Kazakh

5.1.2 Formal Properties of Admiratives 
In Uzbek and Kazakh, utterances expressing admirativity are formally indistinguishable 
from those expressing non-firsthand information source: 
(185) U juda zakiy ekan. (Uz) 
 
he very smart 
EVID
/
EMOT
‘He’s very smart.’ 
Without any context provided, (185) above is ambiguous. The speaker could be referring to non-
firsthand information that has led the speaker to state that the subject of the sentence is 
intelligent, or could have just witnessed some action performed by the subject that leads to the 
speaker’s assertion that the subject is (surprisingly) intelligent. In either case, the speaker is 
expressing non-confirmativity; the context of the utterance is required to determine which variety 
of non-confirmative meaning is expressed. 
In Uzbek, the form emish is sometimes found in admiratives, rather than the more usual 
ekan. The formal properties of emish in these utterances are the same as in situations where non-
firsthand information source is indicated. 
(186) Katolik emish! (Uz) 
Catholic 
EMOT
‘Catholic indeed!’ 
(Joyce 2007, 19) 
(187) Juda zo’r emish! (Uz) 
very strong 
EMOT
‘He’s very strong!’ 

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135 
The Kazakh cognate -mIs, as noted in Chapter 4, has become a sort of quotative marker, and 
does not occur in admirative utterances. 
Admiratives frequently co-occur with sentence-final particles that indicate emotivity or 
emphasis. These particles include Kazakh ğoy and Uzbek -a and -da.
(188) Durïs eken ğoy! (Kaz) 
Correct 
EMOT EXCL
‘Why, that’s right!’
1
Although these particles do serve to express emotivity, they are entirely optional and are not part 
of the verbal complex; their presence should not be seen as any sort of formal marking. As seen 
in (189), for example, the presence of these particles does not affect the ordinary ordering of 
affixes, as they always sentence final. 
(189) Sen, juda ayyor ekan-san-a. (Uz) 
you very crafty 
EMOT
-2
SG
-
EXCL
‘You, how crafty you are!’ 
(Joyce 2007, 43) 
Because these particles are never required, and because they are not part of the verbal complex, 
these particles should be treated as discourse phenomena and not as part of the primary 
expression of either admirativity or emotivity. 
It is entirely possible, given the right context, for these particles to appear when it is clear 
that ekan/eken is expressing non-firsthand information source. In (190), the speaker has 
referenced a news item that states that it is the Chinese New Year; this reference indicates that 
eken here is intended to indicate non-firsthand information source. The addition of ğoy merely 
indicates that the speaker is expressing an emotive attitude toward the content of this utterance. 
1
2011. Accessed 5 Feb 2011. www.zonakz.net/blogs/user/zhanzhak/4437.html?mode=comments 

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136 
(190) Qïtay-lar-dïŋ žaŋa žïl-ï eken ğoy. (Kaz) 
 
Chinese-
PL
-
GEN
new year-3 
EVID EXCL
‘It’s (apparently) the Chinese New Year!’
3
Further evidence that the presence of these particles is not dependent upon the presence of 
ekan/eken comes from the ability of these particles to occur in utterances that do not contain 
ekan/eken (191-192).
(191) Sen-ing ism-sharif-ing g’alati-a. (Uz) 
You-
GEN
name-name-2
SG
weird-
EXCL
‘You’ve got a weird name.’ 
(Joyce 2007, 13) 
(192) Žaŋbïr žaw-ïp qïzïq qïl-dï ğoy (Kaz) 
Rain rain-
CVB
interesting make-
PST EXCL
‘The rain falling sure made it interesting!’
5
In (191), the predicate is a bare adjective, and in (192), the predicate is a verb marked by the 
simple past, which expresses confirmativity. While the presence of -a and ğoy indicates the 
speaker’s emotive stance, the fact that these particles are essentially limitless in distribution 
further indicates that they should not be seen as primary verbal markers of emotivity, but instead 
as discourse particles.