This thesis studies evidentiality in Linguistic Melanesia. The thesis focuses on the differences and similarities of evidential strategies in a sample of languages spoken throughout the area while...Show moreThis thesis studies evidentiality in Linguistic Melanesia. The thesis focuses on the differences and similarities of evidential strategies in a sample of languages spoken throughout the area while trying to refrain from using a rigid framework in which to place the strategies. This leads to a broad, adjusted definition of evidentiality that allows evidentiality to be seen as a more general strategy for expressing a speaker’s access to certain information, rather than only the grammatical encoding of this. The thesis studies languages from both the Austronesian and Papuan language families and compares each language’s strategy both individually and in context of linguistic and geographical proximity. As this is a typological overview, it is the goal to give an impression of the situation that is as objective as possible. Therefore, generalizations were minimalized and conclusions given or tendencies highlighted only based on the data within this study. Hopefully, this thesis shows that rigid (typological) demarcations of features is not always helpful but can often hamper a deeper understanding and skew typological overviews.Show less
