syzygy comments on Adopting others' opinions - Less Wrong

1 [deleted] 30 April 2012 12:30PM

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Comment author: syzygy 30 April 2012 08:28:14PM 0 points [-]

I had no idea. That is really interesting. What are some artificial languages that have evidential grammar? I knew lojban had evidentials, but I think they're optional.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 30 April 2012 09:28:00PM 3 points [-]

Láadan has them.

Láadan has a group of function words called "evidentials" that English doesn't have; many other languages do have them.

An evidential tells you why the speaker feels justified in claiming that the words being said are true.

For example, "wa" means "The reason I claim that what I'm saying is true is that I have perceived it myself" and "wi" means "The reason I claim that what I'm saying is true is because it's self-evident; everybody can perceive that it's true, or everybody is in agreement that it's true."

The evidential will always be the last word in a Láadan sentence, and -- unlike the situation in English -- it's required to be there.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 30 April 2012 09:50:20PM 2 points [-]

I wonder why the evidential is put last. I would have put it early in the sentence.

Comment author: chaosmosis 02 May 2012 02:37:12AM 1 point [-]

This way people have to listen to the entire claim before they can disagree with it.

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