EAP - Linguistica Uralica Publications

PUBLISHED
SINCE 1965

Linguistica Uralica

ISSN 1736-7506 (Electronic)
ISSN 0868-4731 (Print)

Open Access Journal

CiteScore: 0.5

Clauses Emerging as Epistemic Adverbs in Estonian Conversation; pp. 81-101

PDF | doi:10.3176/lu.2010.2.01

Author

Leelo Keevallik

Abstract

The paper shows how four combinations of 1st person pronoun + epistemic verb emerge as adverbs in contemporary spoken Estonian, arguing that word classes have fuzzy boundaries. Excerpts from naturally occurring conversations demonstrate how ma tean ’I know’, ma usun ’I believe’, ma arvan ’I think’, and mai tea ’I don’t know’ are used in varying positions in relation to the commented clause with the prosody that usually suggests their integration into these units. The items display somewhat divergent semantics as compared to their components, expressing degrees of epistemic certainty and uncertainty as well as personalized stance.

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