Evidentiality
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Evidentiality
You already pick LIVE or MEMORY when the claim is in your senses now, or you remember sensing it. Five more channels finish the map: similar cases, clues about this case, a proof from premises, a report, or a gut sense. The same walk can then be reported seven ways, and the listener always knows what your claim rests on. Under other role letters the channel roots are ordinary words (vugel to attest, debal *an ear`).
The seven channels come in four kinds. Two are direct (already taught): you sensed it yourself, now (LIVE) or earlier (MEMORY). Three are reasoned: you worked it out from similar cases (PATTERN), from clues about this case (CLUES), or from premises it must follow from (DEDUCED). One is received: someone else said or wrote it (REPORTED). One is internal: a sense you cannot fully spell out (INTUITION).
The other channels do not place the event in time. When a reasoned or reported event happened at another time, add a when-frame: before / after / while, a clock or date, or a signed offset on the channel. A claim that something will happen is a forecast: a channel plus a later offset, so a forecast always says how you know.
For could be with nothing behind it, use: MAY. When English I think means you have reasons (you worked it out, you heard it, you sense it), pick the channel for those reasons instead.
| Ageben | Use | English | Same root as | Cue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
thugem | LIVE: firsthand, sensed now | live / from the scene | ugel attest | 👁️🗨️: sensing-and-saying while it is in view, in earshot, or on your skin |
thevum | MEMORY: firsthand, remembered | from memory | evul fishing | 🎣: you pull something back |
thubom | PATTERN: similar cases | from the pattern | ubol paw-prints | 🐾: cases left behind |
theyom | CLUES: reasoned from clues about this case | from the clues / apparently | eyol investigate | 🕵️: you work the clues |
thanam | DEDUCED: it must hold if the premises hold | it follows / by deduction | anal book | 📖: a book already holds what it says; a deduction reads out only what the premises hold |
thebam | REPORTED: someone else said or wrote it | so they say / according to… | ebal ear | 👂: you take in what others pass on |
thabem | INTUITION: a gut sense | my gut says | abel heart | ❤️: knowing you cannot fully spell out |
Pick one channel for how you know.
zalazun thebam varuyol.z-Alazun | th-REPORTED | v-write
"Alazun writes, so they say."
zalazun thabem vezuvel.z-Alazun | th-INTUITION | v-sleep
"Alazun is asleep, my gut says."
A document is REPORTED: someone wrote it, so it reached you from someone else.
Compare with: hearing a door is an ordinary /v/ verb, not REPORTED. A feeling such as fear or hope is an emotion compose; INTUITION is a way of knowing, not a feeling about the event. Something a schedule says will happen is someone's PLAN. A tale you tell for its own sake is an imagined scene, not a report of fact.
Evidence strength
The ending on a channel says how strong the evidence is. Use -m by default. The test is what you could offer if someone asked how do you know?:
- -l: you could show it. You can hand over something checkable apart from you (the document, the clues, the source), and the hearer can weigh it themselves.
- -m: you could describe it. You can say what you saw, were told, or noticed, and the hearer takes your account on trust.
- -r: you could only gesture at it. You can point toward it but cannot state it precisely, so a follow-up question would find little behind it.
What counts as showing depends on the channel, so the table names what each channel grades.
Strength grades your evidence, not how sure you feel and not how likely the event is. Likelihood is a separate stance number (th+70), so a strong pattern can still give middling odds, and a rumor can claim certainty. Strength is also not distance from the event: that is th#N, so a compiled report that is several hands removed can still be -l.
| Channel | Graded on | -l show | -m (default) describe | -r gesture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIVE | clarity of view | thugel a clear, full view | thugem | thuger a glimpse |
| MEMORY | vividness of memory | thevul a vivid memory | thevum | thevur a hazy memory |
| PATTERN | number and consistency of cases | thubol a well-established pattern | thubom | thubor a few cases |
| CLUES | strength of clues | theyol strong clues | theyom | theyor a weak clue |
| DEDUCED | how far you checked the steps | thanal every step could be shown | thanam | thanar it seems to follow, steps unchecked |
| REPORTED | reliability of the source | thebal a reliable source or an authoritative document | thebam | thebar a rumor or an unofficial note |
| INTUITION | how well you can state the basis | thabel a strong gut sense | thabem | thaber a faint hunch |
Two rows stretch the word show. A live view is gone once the moment passes, so for LIVE and MEMORY -l means you could narrate it in fine detail. INTUITION is private, so -l means you can say what the sense rests on, not that you can hand it over.
DEDUCED grades how far you checked the steps, not the premises. A step can be airtight and still start from a false premise, so a deduction is only as good as what it was deduced from.
zalazun thebar vudurul.z-Alazun | th-REPORTED.weak | v-departure
"Rumor has it Alazun left."
zazozon thevul vowurol.z-Azozon | th-MEMORY.strong | v-walk
"Azozon walked, I remember it clearly."
Second-hand and further (th#N)
English second-hand, third-hand, a secondary source and a tertiary source count the hands between the person who was there and you. A channel does not say that. Add a stance number with the rank marker after the channel: th#N (from 2) is N-th hand. The channel says what form the claim reached you in, and the number says how far that is from the event. So throdol (th#2) is one step removed: told by someone who was there, or written by someone who asked them. throgel (th#3) is two steps removed: told by someone who was told, or compiled from reports. (cue: o ≈ rank, the place in the chain)
zalazun thebam throgel vudurul.z-Alazun | th-REPORTED | th-3rd-hand | v-departure
"I heard third-hand that Alazun left."
zalazun thebal blunonal throdol vudurul.z-Alazun | [th-REPORTED.strong | bl-newspaper] | th-2nd-hand | v-departure
"Alazun left, according to a newspaper article by someone who interviewed people who were there."
Alone, th#N says the claim was passed on to you, without saying in what form. After a channel it adds the form: REPORTED (a retelling, a secondary source, or lore passed down), PATTERN (cases you know only from reports), or CLUES (clues you know only from reports). The number counts the hands on the evidence, never the reasoning steps: a conclusion drawn from your own clues is plain CLUES. First-hand has no number, because that is a channel: th#N with LIVE or MEMORY (thugem, thevum) is not used. The usual number endings apply: -m about N-th hand (throgem), -r with a digit the same depth as before (throger). Digitless thror under a question asks how many hands?
Compare with: th_N names which numbered source the claim rests on; th#N counts how many hands it passed through. Reliability of the one source you heard from is the ending on the channel (thebal / thebar).
Source (bl- after the channel)
English according to Azozon and going by the camera name who or what you got the claim from. Put that noun in a bl- word right after the channel. The channel is its host, so the bl- word is the source, not someone who receives anything.
zalazun thebam blazozon vudurul.z-Alazun | [th-REPORTED | bl-Azozon] | v-departure
"Alazun left, according to Azozon."
zalazun thugem blugewel vezuvel.z-Alazun | [th-LIVE | bl-camera] | v-sleep
"Alazun is asleep, going by the camera." (watching the feed now)
What you put in that /b/ decides what it does. A person or other noun is the source: a speaker or a document on REPORTED, a screen or a recording on LIVE and MEMORY.
Compare with: the source is where the claim came to you from; the claim is still yours to pass on. A numbered footnote source is th_N.
When you don't name the source, blumen (someone) leaves it open. Whether you are holding back who said it or have lost track changes how far to trust the report, and the channel alone does not say it. Say which in a sentence of its own:
| Ageben | English |
|---|---|
zalazun thebam blumen vudurul. | Alazun left, according to someone. (says neither) |
zalazun thebam blumen vudurul. zuwen vanam derl zar. | Alazun left, according to someone. I know who. |
zalazun thebam blumen vudurul. zuwen vanam vul derl zar. | Alazun left, according to someone. I don't know who. (a rumor) |
zalazun thebam blumen vudurul. zuwen vanam derl zar.z-Alazun | [th-REPORTED | bl-someone] | v-departure . z-speaker | v-knowledge | d-whether-clause | z-something
"Alazun left, according to someone. I know who."
Forecasts (blral)
English will can make a forecast: a claim that something will happen. Ageben has no will word for this. Use a channel and put blral right after it in /b/: a number with a plus sign and no digits, meaning some time after now. Because a forecast needs a channel, it always says what it rests on; for a hunch, that channel is INTUITION. The mirror, blrul, is some time before now, for a past claim with no measured amount.
thubom blral verulal.[th-PATTERN | bl-later] | v-rain
"It will rain, going by the pattern."
zalazun thaber blral vudurul.z-Alazun | [th-INTUITION.weak | bl-later] | v-departure
"I have a faint hunch Alazun will leave."
In a question, the channel asks what the listener's answer rests on: going by the pattern you see, will it rain? The listener answers with that channel or names a different one. Pick the channel you expect them to have: CLUES (theyom) when they would work it out from clues, REPORTED (thebam) when they would go by what they heard or read.
yel thubom blral verulal.y-question | [th-PATTERN | bl-later] | v-rain
"Will it rain, going by the pattern you see?"
On a feeling (a sake word with a locus and a motion ending, before goyom), the channel and offset date the stimulus. On a feeling with no object, they date a stimulus you leave unnamed. The feeling itself stays now.
Compare with: PLAN (thagom) says what you intend to do. Your own intention needs no channel. A forecast is a claim about the world. Could be with nothing behind it is MAY, not a forecast.
Evidence clause (blarl)
English judging by, going by, and given that name the grounds for a claim: the fact that tells you it holds. The three reasoned channels take grounds: CLUES (theyom, from clues), PATTERN (thubom, from cases that repeat) and DEDUCED (thanam, from premises). Each one takes blarl as its /b/. The main sentence stops after blarl, and the next sentence is the grounds (dependent clauses). You state the claim, the strength of your grounds, and the grounds themselves in one sentence.
zalazun vabuvul theyom blarl zazozon veyamul.z-Alazun | v-punch | [th-CLUES | bl-that-clause] | z-Azozon | v-scream
"Alazun punched, judging by the fact that Azozon is screaming."
Grounds are not a cause. With thahum blarl, the clause after blarl is what made the event happen. With a reasoned channel, it is only how you know the event happened: the screaming did not make Alazun punch.
zazozon veyamul thahum blarl zalazun vabuvul.z-Azozon | v-scream | [th-because | bl-that-clause] | z-Alazun | v-punch
"Azozon screams because Alazun punches."
| You say | The clause after blarl is | Form |
|---|---|---|
| what made it happen | the cause | thahum blarl |
| what has to hold for it to happen | the condition | thohem blarl / thebem blarl / thehom blarl |
| how you know it happened | your grounds | theyom blarl / thubom blarl / thanam blarl |
The ending on the channel grades the grounds (evidence strength): -l for strong clues or a well-established pattern, -m by default, -r for a weak clue or a few cases. Strong clues still fall short of a proof: when the claim must hold if the grounds do, use DEDUCED.
verulal theyol blarl zugalal gagulel.v-rain | [th-CLUES.strong | bl-that-clause] | [z-cloud | g-gray]
"It is raining, judging by the gray clouds." (strong clues)
For a forecast, keep the offset and put blarl after it. The pattern is what you go by, and the grounds clause says what you see now.
verulal thubol blral blarl zugalal gagulel.v-rain | [th-PATTERN.strong | [bl-later | bl-that-clause]] | [z-cloud | g-gray]
"It will rain, going by the well-established pattern, given the gray clouds."
You assert the grounds, the way you assert a cause. If you are not sure of them, say so inside the grounds clause with its own channel:
zalazun vabuvul theyom blarl zazozon thugem veyamul.z-Alazun | v-punch | [th-CLUES | bl-that-clause] | z-Azozon | th-LIVE | v-scream
"Alazun punched, judging by the fact that Azozon is screaming, which I can hear."
Compare with: a bl- noun after any channel is its source (thebam blazozon according to Azozon), and no other channel takes blarl. A cause or condition word may not come before the channel. Put the channel first (theyom thahum blarl) to say both that you inferred it and that it was caused. Could be with no grounds is MAY.
Carrying a channel forward
English tells a story with one they say or I remember at the start, and every sentence after it rests on the same ground. Ageben does the same. Once you put a channel on a claim, your later claims with no channel keep it: the channel is your frame. You name the channel once, then keep talking.
zalazun thebam vudurul. zalazun veruvol. zalazun vozuyel.z-Alazun | th-REPORTED | v-departure . z-Alazun | v-run . z-Alazun | v-sing
"Alazun left, so they say. Alazun ran. Alazun sang." (all three are what you heard)
The frame is yours. It covers only your own claims, and someone else who replies never inherits it. Their reply does not end it either: when you go on telling, your frame is still in force.
Which sentences take the frame: your statements with no channel of their own, including a statement after a call, an interjection, or an answer word (yaol zalazun veruvol. yes, Alazun ran keeps your frame). A question does not take it, because a channel in a question asks about the listener's grounds (forecasts). A command, request, or prohibition does not take it, because it is not a claim. Neither ends the frame, so your next statement picks it up again.
zalazun thebam vudurul. yel zalazun veruvol. zalazun vozuyel.z-Alazun | th-REPORTED | v-departure . y-question | z-Alazun | v-run . z-Alazun | v-sing
"Alazun left, so they say. Did Alazun run? Alazun sang." (the singing is hearsay too)
What does not end it: a new topic or a return to one, the sentence linkers (therefore, however, meanwhile, next, but), clause joins, asides, or MAY. A story moves from one person to the next.
zazozon thebam vowurol. xalazun zalen vehohel.z-Azozon | th-REPORTED | v-walk . x-Alazun | z-TOPIC | v-sit
"Azozon walked, so they say. Now, about Alazun: Alazun sat." (the sitting is hearsay too)
What ends it:
- A new frame. Any channel replaces it.
- The statement word, written out.
yal(oryam/yar) before a body says you are back in your own voice, with no frame. It is the one place where writing the usually silent statement word changes the meaning. In two stacked act words, it counts only as the first word, the act you really do: a rhetoricalyal yelis your own claim and ends the frame, but a quizyel yaldoes not. xavedamby the way: a digression leaves what you were telling. To go back, name the channel again.- A goodbye, which ends the conversation.
zalazun thebam vudurul. yal zalazun vezuvel.z-Alazun | th-REPORTED | v-departure . y-statement | z-Alazun | v-sleep
"Alazun left, so they say. Alazun is asleep." (the second claim no longer rests on the report)
zalazun thebam vudurul. yal yel zar vegemal.z-Alazun | th-REPORTED | v-departure . y-statement | y-question | z-wh | v-care
"Alazun left, so they say. Who cares?" (your own claim; the report no longer carries)
A quote keeps its speaker's frame: nothing carries into it from outside, and your own frame resumes after it.
Deduction (thanam)
English it follows that, P, so Q and by deduction claim more than good evidence: if the premises hold, the conclusion must hold. Put DEDUCED (thanam) on the conclusion and the premises after blarl, as in any evidence clause. Join several premises with a clause join; a join after a stand-in stays in the dependent, so every premise is grounds. You assert the premises and the conclusion.
zazozon veduyol thanam blarl zual gwozeduyol veduyol xam zazozon gwozeduyol.z-Azozon | v-teach | [th-DEDUCED | bl-that-clause] | [[z-everything | g-role-agent-teach] | v-teach | x-and.open | z-Azozon | g-role-agent-teach]
"Azozon teaches, since every teacher teaches and Azozon is a teacher."
To claim only that the conclusion follows, put a pole between the channel and blarl. The pole is the ordinary if: the premises are enough for the conclusion, and you do not claim them. DEDUCED says you know that link by deduction. Now you assert nothing but the link.
zazozon veduyol thanam thohem blarl zual gwozeduyol veduyol xam zazozon gwozeduyol.z-Azozon | v-teach | th-DEDUCED | [th-if | bl-that-clause] | [[z-everything | g-role-agent-teach] | v-teach | x-and.open | z-Azozon | g-role-agent-teach]
"If every teacher teaches and Azozon is a teacher, it follows that Azozon teaches."
| You claim | Form | You assert |
|---|---|---|
| P, so Q | Q thanam blarl P | P and Q |
| Q follows from P | Q thanam thohem blarl P | only the link |
| P and Q come to the same thing | Q thanam thehom blarl P | only the link, both ways |
| P rules out Q | Q denied with vul, then thanam thohem blarl P | only that P and Q cannot both hold |
The ending grades how far you checked the steps (evidence strength): thanal when you could write out every step, thanam when you could name the premises and the rule, thanar when it only seems to follow.
When the premises come first, open the conclusion with the linker xahol it follows that (sentence linkers). It reaches back to the one sentence before it, so join every premise into that sentence.
zual gwozeduyol veduyol xam zazozon gwozeduyol. xahol zazozon veduyol.[[z-everything | g-role-agent-teach] | v-teach | x-and.open | z-Azozon | g-role-agent-teach] . x-it-follows | z-Azozon | v-teach
"Every teacher teaches, and Azozon is a teacher. It follows that Azozon teaches."
A linker is not a channel, so the conclusion keeps your frame: a deduction from a report is still REPORTED.
Compare with: strong clues (theyol) make a claim likely, but it can still fail with every clue true. A deduction cannot fail unless a premise does. Because (thahum) says what made it happen; a deduction says only what must be true.
Practice
Short drills for Intermediate. Try each item before opening Show answer.
Setting: a press conference
New words:
| English | Ageben | Cue |
|---|---|---|
| cloud | ugalal | ☁️ |
| gray | agulel | 🩶 |
| PATTERN | thubom | 🐾 from paw-prints: a trail of cases |
| CLUES | theyom | 🕵️ from investigate: worked out from clues |
| DEDUCED | thanam | 📖 from book: read out of the premises |
| REPORTED | thebam | 👂 from ear: someone said so |
Review:
| English | Ageben |
|---|---|
| Azozon | azozon |
| Alazun | alazun |
| Ahelan | ahelan |
| MEMORY | thevum |
| radio | arowel |
| rain | erulal |
| tell | vezuyol |
| see | vayebel |
| scream | veyamul |
| punch | vabuvul |
| sleep | vezuvel |
English → Ageben
1. I heard third-hand that Alazun screams.
Show answer
zalazun thebam throgel veyamul.
z-Alazun | th-REPORTED | th-3rd-hand | v-scream
2. Going by a well-established pattern, Azozon will tell Ahelan.
Show answer
zazozon thubol blral vezuyol bahelan.
z-Azozon | [th-PATTERN.strong | bl-later] | v-tell | b-Ahelan
3. I remember Azozon saw rain.
Show answer
zazozon thevum vayebel derulal.
z-Azozon | th-MEMORY | v-see | d-rain
Ageben → English
1. zalazun thevum vayebel darowel. yal zalazun vezuvel.
Show answer
z-Alazun | th-MEMORY | v-see | d-radio . y-statement | z-Alazun | v-sleep
Alazun saw a radio, as I remember. Alazun is asleep. (the second claim does not rest on memory)
2. verulal thubol blral blarl zugalal gagulel.
Show answer
v-rain | [th-PATTERN.strong | [bl-later | bl-that-clause]] | [z-cloud | g-gray]
It will rain, going by the well-established pattern, given the gray clouds.
3. zahelan thebam vezuvel.
Show answer
z-Ahelan | th-REPORTED | v-sleep
Ahelan is asleep, so they say.
Pick one
1. There are gray clouds, and there is rain if there are gray clouds; so there is rain, and you could write out every step. zerulal thanal blarl zugalal gagulel xam zerulal gohem blugalal gagulel. or zerulal thanam blarl zugalal gagulel xam zerulal gohem blugalal gagulel.
Show answer
zerulal thanal blarl zugalal gagulel xam zerulal gohem blugalal gagulel.
z-rain | [th-DEDUCED.strong | bl-that-clause] | [[z-cloud | g-gray] | x-and.open | z-rain | [g-if | [bl-cloud | g-gray]]]
DEDUCED with -l means you could show every step; -m means you could name the premises and the rule.
Fix it
1. Alazun punched, judging by the fact that Azozon screams. zalazun vabuvul thahum barl zazozon veyamul.
Show answer
zalazun vabuvul theyom blarl zazozon veyamul.
z-Alazun | v-punch | [th-CLUES | bl-that-clause] | z-Azozon | v-scream
The scream is your evidence, so it goes after CLUES; thahum would make the scream the cause of the punch.