DedicatedSelf-Ascriptions in EgophoricConstructions
Stephen Wechsler
The University of Texas at Austin
The recentsearchfordedicatedde sepronounsinvites a relatedquestion: Do naturallanguageshavededicatedformsthatdesignatepredicates such asverbphrasesforuse in propertyself-ascription? I will suggestthat such formsmaybefound in ‘egophoric’ (also called ‘conjunct/ disjunct’) verbal systems. In such systemsthe ‘egophoric’ (or ‘conjunct’) verb form co-occurswithfirstperson in declarativesandsecondperson in interrogatives (I snored-EGO; Didyousnore-EGO?); and a distinct (unmarked, I will suggest) form isfoundelsewhere (You/He snored; Did I/he snore?).Egophoricmarkingis also found in de seattitudereports (Syam[i] saidthat he[i] snored-EGO).Evidentialscanlicensetheegophoric form iftheevidentialsourceiscoreferentialwiththesubject (Syamsnored-EGO EVID; “AccordingtoSyam[i], he[i] snored-EGO”). A varietyof such systemsarefoundscatteredamongtheworld’slanguages (San Roque et al., 2015), subjecttovaryingsemanticconditions. In Newari (Sino-Tibetan), forexample, theegophoric form isrestrictedtoverbsof intentional action (Hargreaves 2005).
Accordingtoonecommonview, theegophoricmarkeris a specialindexicalindicatingthatthesubjectofthesentencereferstothe ‘epistemicauthority’ in thecontext.Focusing on Newari, I will present a slightly different account, following Wechsler andCoppock 2016.Weintroduce an agentparameteras a refinement on content (not context), whichgivesus a levelofcontentthatcanserveastheobjectof an attitudede se: a centeredproposition, i.e., a setofagent-worldpairs.Egophoricmarkingidentifiesthesubjectofthesentencewiththatagentparameter in thecontent (not with a contextual ‘authority’ parameter). In a declarativestatement, theassertorpubliclycommitstothecenteredproposition, whichmeansthatshecommitstothe belief thatforanyagent-world pair in thatproposition, shemaybethatagent in thatworld. As a consequencethesubjectisnormally a firstpersonpronoun, but ifauthorityfor a commitmentisabdicatedas in an evidentialconstructionthenthesubjectreferstotheevidentialsourceinstead.Questionsshouldbeasked in such a waythattheaddresseeisabletocommittothecenteredpropositionscorrespondingtotheanswerstothequestion (thisisformalizedbydrawing upon recentproposalsthattrackthediscoursecommitmentsoftheinterlocutors (Farkas & Bruce 2010; Krifka 2015)). Thus interrogative fliparisesas a consequenceofthestatusofthepredicateas a self-ascribedproperty. This account also explainswhylicensingoftheegophoric form isclause-bounded in Newari (Zu 2016). In ‘Mary[i] saidthatSyamsaidthatshe[i] snored’, Mary does not committothepropositionthatshesnored, so theegophoric form does not appear.