Evidentiality

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌɛ.vɪˌdɛn.ʃiˈælɪti/

Definitions

1. The linguistic feature that indicates the source of information
2. A grammatical marker that signifies the evidential basis for a statement
3. A system that expresses how knowledge is acquired regarding the truth of a claim

Etymology: Evidentiality is a term from linguistics, and its history is short and technical. It is formed by adding the suffix "-ity" to "evidential", which itself comes from "evidence" with the adjectival suffix "-ial". The suffix "-ity" is the familiar English ending that turns an adjective into a noun of quality, so the word names the quality of being evidential. In practice, the word refers to a grammatical category found in some languages, where a verb or sentence marks how the speaker knows what they are reporting: whether they saw it, heard it, inferred it, or were told it. Languages such as Turkish and Quechua are often cited for this feature. The noun is therefore a label for that grammatical system, not for a general sense of proof.