Abstract This thesis reports on an empirical study of the forms and functions of two interrelated syntactic constructions, tag questions and negative yes/no interrogatives, in naturally occurring American English conversations. More specifically, the thesis focuses on examining the ways in which these interrogative constructions are involved in the intersubjective and interactional construction of stance. This involves describing the linguistic and interactional practices through which speakers index and negotiate their evaluative, affective or epistemic position or point of view towards some matter in the local context. The data used in the study comprise naturally occurring face-to-face and telephone interactions the majority of which take place between family and friends. The data are drawn from the first three published parts of the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English.The study is based on the methodological and theoretical principles of interactional linguistics and conversation analysis. The first part of the study provides an examination of the linguistic and grammatical patterning of the chosen constructions in a database of naturally occurring interactions in English. This serves first of all as a study of the general linguistic patterning of utterances with negation or reversed word order in interaction. At the same time, however, the grammatical and semantic categories of person, verb type and tense are employed for establishing the high frequency of linguistic and semantic material that index the current speaker's affective, evaluative and/or epistemic position towards the issue at hand. The second part of the study expands the focus from individual utterances to the surrounding interactional context in which the interrogative constructions are located, and makes use of the conversation analytic methodology. I examine how discourse participants use negative yes/no interrogatives and tag questions as a resource for carrying out different actions such as requesting for confirmation, challenging, disagreeing and assessing, and the ways in which interrogative speakers convey their epistemic, affective or evaluative stances in so doing. In this section of the study the research proceeds through detailed analyses of interaction, and an examination of those sequential environments in which the interrogative constructions are found.

Descriptive perception verbs have failed to receive a uniform analysis in previous verb classifications (cf. Chomsky 1965, Rogers 1974, Hengeveld 1992, Levin 1993, Van Eynde et al. 2014). This thesis argues that the descriptive perception verbs in Dutch (i.e. eruitzien 'look', klinken 'sound', voelen 'feel', ruiken 'smell', and smaken 'taste') should be classified as copular verbs, much like lijken 'seem' and schijnen 'seem'. This classification is supported by both the synchronic and diachronic behaviour of these verbs in Dutch. Synchronically, proposing that Germanic copular verbs (as opposed to copulas) are defined by their syntax rather than their (empty) semantics, I discuss that the Dutch descriptive perception verbs behave like stereotypical copular verbs: they require a predicative complement, usually in the form of an adjective. Semantically, the Dutch descriptive perception verbs are much like the copular verbs blijken 'turn out', lijken 'seem' and schijnen 'seem' in terms of epistemicity and evidentiality. Diachronically, I hypothesize that the Dutch descriptive perception verbs have evolved from one of the following two origins: either from intransitive verbs (as is the case for klinken and ruiken), much like English remain, through grammaticalization processes of semantic bleaching and reanalysis; or from cognitive perception verbs (as is the case of eruitzien and voelen), as found in Latin, Japanese and Zulu, through the process of argument reordering. The origin of smaken is not clear, and is left for future research. I show that other Germanic evidential copular verbs (i.e. lijken, schijnen 'seem', scheinen 'seem', seem) have developed diachronically in a uniform fashion, suggesting the following grammaticalization path: from a lexical verb to a copular verb, to taking a that-complement, an infinitival complement or a like-complement, and eventually being used in parenthetical constructions. The results of this thesis indicate that the Dutch descriptive perception verbs are only at the beginning of this grammaticalization path, but are on their way to becoming grammaticalized evidential copular verbs.

The aim of the research is to analyse the expression and contents of non-morphological evidentiality in Lithuanian realized by neuter (non-agreeing) adjectives and adverbs. The thesis focuses on the non-agreeing adjectives and the adverbs that derive from the semantic domains of perception, comparison and knowledge and thus have the potential to acquire evidential meanings. The study explores the morphosyntactic properties (Complement-Taking-Predicates and adverbials) of the markers under consideration, their quantitative parameters and semantic functional distribution in fiction and academic discourse. The study is corpus-driven and the data have been obtained from the Corpus of the Contemporary Lithuanian Language, namely from the subcorpus of fiction, and from the Corpus of Academic Lithuanian. The analysis of the morphosyntactic properties of the markers and their semantic functional distribution suggests that in Lithuanian the non-agreeing adjectives convey evidential meanings more frequently than the adverbs because the adverbs mainly function as predicate modifiers. The main evidential value is inference based on perceptual or conceptual sources of evidence. The non-agreeing adjectives and the adverbs under consideration can also express the meanings of epistemic modality, expectation or function as pragmatic markers. / Pagrindinis darbo tikslas yra išanalizuoti nemorfologinio evidencialumo raišką ir turinį, realizuojamus bevardės giminės (nederinamaisiais) būdvardžiais ir prieveiksmiais grožinės literatūros tekstuose ir lietuvių mokslo kalboje. Tyrimo objektą sudaro nederinamieji būdvardžiai ir prieveiksmiai, kurių leksinės reikšmės atspindi semantinius laukus, turinčius potencialą žymėti žinių šaltinį. Darbe analizuojami šių vienetų morfosintaksiniai bruožai (komplementiniai predikatai ir adverbialai), tiriami jų kiekybiniai rodikliai ir atskleidžiama semantinė funkcinė distribucija. Šioje disertacijoje atliekamas tyrimas naudojant tekstynų metodologiją. Tyrimo medžiaga yra surinkta iš grožinės literatūros patekstynio, esančio Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos tekstyne ir Lietuvių mokslo kalbos tekstyno. Nederinamųjų būdvardžių ir prieveiksmių morfosintaksinių bruožų ir semantinių funkcinių ypatybių analizė suponuoja, kad lietuvių kalboje nederinamieji būdvardžiai dažniau perteikia žinių šaltinio reikšmes negu prieveiksmiai, nes šie vartojami kaip predikato modifikatoriai. Pagrindinė evidencinė reikšmė, būdinga nagrinėjamiems žymikliams, yra numanymas, pagrįstas percepciniu arba konceptualiuoju žinių šaltiniu. Nagrinėjami vienetai vartojami ir kaip episteminiai, vertinimo arba pragmatiniai žymikliai.

Pagrindinis darbo tikslas yra išanalizuoti nemorfologinio evidencialumo raišką ir turinį, realizuojamus bevardės giminės (nederinamaisiais) būdvardžiais ir prieveiksmiais grožinės literatūros tekstuose ir lietuvių mokslo kalboje. Tyrimo objektą sudaro nederinamieji būdvardžiai ir prieveiksmiai, kurių leksinės reikšmės atspindi semantinius laukus, turinčius potencialą žymėti žinių šaltinį. Darbe analizuojami šių vienetų morfosintaksiniai bruožai (komplementiniai predikatai ir adverbialai), tiriami jų kiekybiniai rodikliai ir atskleidžiama semantinė funkcinė distribucija. Šioje disertacijoje atliekamas tyrimas naudojant tekstynų metodologiją. Tyrimo medžiaga yra surinkta iš grožinės literatūros patekstynio, esančio Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos tekstyne ir Lietuvių mokslo kalbos tekstyno. Nederinamųjų būdvardžių ir prieveiksmių morfosintaksinių bruožų ir semantinių funkcinių ypatybių analizė suponuoja, kad lietuvių kalboje nederinamieji būdvardžiai dažniau perteikia žinių šaltinio reikšmes negu prieveiksmiai, nes šie vartojami kaip predikato modifikatoriai. Pagrindinė evidencinė reikšmė, būdinga nagrinėjamiems žymikliams, yra numanymas, pagrįstas percepciniu arba konceptualiuoju žinių šaltiniu. Nagrinėjami vienetai gali būti vartojami ir kaip episteminiai, vertinimo arba pragmatiniai žymikliai. / The aim of the research is to analyse the expression and contents of non-morphological evidentiality in Lithuanian realized by neuter (non-agreeing) adjectives and adverbs. The thesis focuses on the non-agreeing adjectives and the adverbs that derive from the semantic domains of perception, comparison and knowledge and thus have the potential to acquire evidential meanings. The study explores the morphosyntactic properties (Complement-Taking-Predicates and adverbials) of the markers under consideration, their quantitative parameters and semantic functional distribution in fiction and academic discourse. The study is corpus-driven and the data have been obtained from the Corpus of the Contemporary Lithuanian Language, namely from the subcorpus of fiction, and from the Corpus of Academic Lithuanian. The analysis of the morphosyntactic properties of the markers and their semantic functional distribution suggests that in Lithuanian the non-agreeing adjectives convey evidential meanings more frequently than the adverbs because the adverbs mainly function as predicate modifiers. The main evidential value is inference based on perceptual or conceptual sources of evidence. The non-agreeing adjectives and the adverbs under consideration can also express the meanings of epistemic modality, expectation or function as pragmatic markers.

本論文依據現代客語語料庫，探討臺灣客語評注性情態副詞在語法化、詞彙化以及語用化運作之下的發展過程，以及情態與語言演變機制之間的關係。藉由三個知識性情態詞，本文對於評注性情態副詞之分佈、語義和句法特徵進行詳細的描述。藉由檢視其構式結構以及運用相關測試，證實評注性情態副詞不但遵守副詞修飾範域：話語行為副詞 > 情態副詞 (評論副詞 > 知識性情態副詞) > 附加副詞，也同樣依循情態詞之階層分佈：知識性情態詞 > 義務性情態詞 > 動力性情態詞。在他們所處之語意語境以及語用語境影響之下，語用推論的產生導引出重新分析，此轉喻強化現象，致使評注性情態副詞在階段發展中經歷了語法及語意之轉變。在語言使用之溝通目的下，評注性情態副詞透過語境誘發之重新解釋形成了歧義現象，並進一步固定化為獨立之語意。綜言之，奠基於臺灣客語語料庫之實際語料，本文提供了對評注性情態副詞全面的深入探索。研究結果具有兩項主要貢獻：將語法化，詞彙化和語用化的理論框架納入臺灣客語情態副詞之分析；並藉由語言實證展示情態與主觀性之間相互關係之理論模式。 / This dissertation takes a corpus-based approach in an attempt to explain the development of Taiwan Hakka modality disjuncts with epistemic interpretation on the theoretical ground of the mechanisms of linguistic change, including grammaticalization, lexicalization, and pragmaticalization. The main focus of this research is on the interaction between modality and the three mechanisms. A fine-grained analysis is provided to examine the morphological characteristics and syntactic structures of epistemic and evaluative modality disjuncts, exemplified by three cases in Taiwan Hakka. Several constructions and tests are manipulated to figure out the scope of modal disjuncts, which warrant the postulation of the scope hierarchy of illocutionary disjunct > modality disjunct (evaluative > epistemic) > adjunct, as well as the ranking of epistemic modal > deontic modal > dynamic modal. Thanks to their semantic-pragmatic contexts, the operation of pragmatic inferences lead them into reanalysis, giving rise to grammatical and semantic shift from one stage to the next. Metonymic strengthening is claimed to be the key to motivate such developments. The usage in a context triggers context-induced reinterpretation, resulting in ambiguity. Overall, this dissertation, probing into actual language usages from corpora, proposes a full-fledged analysis on modality disjuncts. The findings feature two significant contributions—an integration of the theoretical frameworks of grammaticalization, lexicalization and pragmaticalization into the analysis of Taiwan Hakka modality disjuncts; and a demonstration of linguistic investigation for the theorization on the relationship between modality and subjectivity.