Chapter 125Evidential Combinations, Discovery, and Structural Change

125.1 Exclamation and retrospective discovery

Surprise, discovery, and strong feeling can arise in several constructions. Nakagawa's bare formal-noun exclamations include appreciation of a conversation, enjoyment of tea, pain, and horror at someone's appearance Nakagawa (2024: 396, 400–401). An exclamation is not automatically an instance of the same grammatical category as retrospective aan or anan.

Yoshikawa discusses discovery and indirect experience with aan, but also narrative passages where a deity states something already known. These examples motivate a possible narrative function beyond indirect evidence or surprise Yoshikawa (2018: 14–17, §§4.4–6). The later aspectual analysis is developed in Chapter 111 (A, Rok, and Aan: Earlier Situations and Discovery).

125.2 Combinations and their interpretation

Evidential expressions can combine. Dal Corso distinguishes two motivations in his material: marking complementary information sources, including a character's experience and a narrator's traditional knowledge, and reinforcing an evidential judgment Dal Corso (2018: 331–333).

The supporting expression need not be ruwe ne. Dal Corso gives siri ki siri ne and discusses corresponding combinations with humi and hawe. Although the direct expression usually follows the indirect one in his sample, humi ne humi as also occurs Dal Corso (2018: 332–333, examples 274–276).

Ordinary auxiliaries have construction-specific possibilities as well. Nakagawa gives kusu ne ruwe ne while rejecting the reverse sequence in that construction, and permits a and nankor after formal-noun-plus-copula endings Nakagawa (2024: 393–394). These observations describe particular combinations; they do not supply one unrestricted ordering template.

125.3 Nominal structure and possible reanalysis

The internal structure remains a subject of analysis. In Bugaeva's 2008 account, the clause headed by hawe is an object complement of a transitive copula ne, yielding a construction with more than one clause Bugaeva (2008: 64–65, §7.3.4). This is an analytical treatment of copular argument structure; compare Chapter 96 (Copular ne and Nominal Predication).

Dal Corso discusses the retained noun properties, including possessed morphology and intervening particles, alongside the biclausal account. For particular ruwe ne uses he proposes possible reanalysis as an auxiliary in a single clause, drawing on restrictions on clefting and its combinations with other evidentials Dal Corso (2018: 145–147, §5.3.2.2). The proposal is specific to those constructions.

Takahashi proposes a further development from nominalizer to adverbial-clause marker in Horobetsu literary material Takahashi (2018: 111–112, §§3–4). The documented regional differences are synchronic evidence; arranging Tokachi, Saru, and Horobetsu as successive historical stages would require additional evidence.

125.4 Formal and regional endings

The ending tapan often occupies the place of ne in formal or verse contexts. Nakagawa illustrates ruwe tapan in Horobetsu and ru tapan in Tokachi, including a prose narrator's closing account to descendants Nakagawa (2024: 401–402).

Ishikari sittapan or sitapan appears when speakers explain their own actions. Nakagawa proposes a relationship to sir + tapan. He distinguishes it from Tokachi ru estap an, and suggests that some older transcriptions confused the similar-sounding expressions Nakagawa (2024: 402–403). These endings preserve useful regional distinctions beyond the ordinary ne, an, and un frames.