CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PREFERENCES FOR THE RELIABILITY OF UTTERANCES WITH THE FOUR EVIDENTIALS IN BULGARIAN AND THE FACTOR OF ACADEMIC SPECIALIZATION (BASED ON SURVEY DATA)

VOL. 63, BOOK 1, PART A, 2025, pp. 159 – 170 Full text (Bg)

Author: Krasimira Aleksova

Affiliation: St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia

Abstract

In the theoretical framework of the paper, we adopt the view that the Bulgarian evidentiality system is a four-member category. Demonstrating its modal nature, in our view, must be based not only on analyses of empirical material and theoretical argumentation, but also on evidence derived through methods of perceptual linguistics. The paper seeks statistically substantiated correlations between the evaluations of differences in reliability across six pairs of utterances, representing the maximum number of combinations of the four evidentials (treated as the dependent variable), and the factor of specialization, defined by the presence or absence of linguistic knowledge (treated as the independent variable). The analyses are based on data from a non-representative survey conducted among 950 respondents in the period June – September 2024.

Key words: evidentiality, indicative, conclusive, renarrative, dubitative, modern Bulgarian, perceptual linguistics