Martínez Vera (2026): Verum, contrast, and evidentiality in Saraguro Kichwa #
[MV26] [MV24] [MVC25] [Fal02] [Fal19] [Mur14] [Mur17] [Tel14] [Grz20] [Ben23] [San10] [HH17] [Col82] [RvG10] [RF15] [STBR10] [Kri14] [Roo85] [Roo92] [Hir17] [Hoh92] [RH04] [EK98] [Mat21] [Mat04] [BM15] [GHM20] [Goo22a] [Roc18]
Saraguro Kichwa (qvj) marker =mi is analysed as a focus marker
whose felicity presupposes a highlighted, strengthened alternative that
entails the negation of the scope proposition (paper's def. 37).
Three empirical signatures:
=miis licensed when ¬p is salient (biased question, assertion of ¬p, or a reportative-evidential antecedent).=miis licensed in matrix declaratives following a reportative evidential-shka, but NOT following a direct evidential-rka.=misurfaces in contrastive (corrective) uses, sister to focus strategies like Englishonly([Roc18], [Hir17]).
What this study formalises #
miFelicitous— paper eq. (37), reduced to the polar alternative-set case (innocently excludable alternatives are absent from polar partitions, so exhaustification collapses to identity).polarQUD p— the QUD over which a verum-marker felicity question is settled, built fromQuestion.polar. Itsalt = {p, pᶜ}, soHighlighting.AddressesQUDdoes real filtering work.updateAfterAct— generic discourse update that adds an act'sEvidentialAct.raisedPropositionsto the salient set. No match-on-commitsToScopehere: the substrate-level theoremspresent_raises_polar_negationandassert_does_not_raise_polar_negationinDiscourse/EvidentialIllocutioncarry the load.- The headline contrast (paper exx. 47–50):
=miis felicitous afterpresent(reportative-shka) and infelicitous afterassert(direct-rka). Proofs project from substrate. mi_polar_iff_verumFelicitous— the cross-paper bridge theorem showing MV's polar-reductionmiFelicitousis equivalent to Höhle'sverumFelicitouson the same input.mv_partition_neq_romeroHan_partition— the cross-framework divergence theorem showing MV's polar partition{p, pᶜ}is in general distinct from Romero & Han's verum partition{forSureCG p, ¬forSureCG p}. Makes the line-a (focus) vs line-b (CommonGround-modal verum operator) split visible at the type level.
Substrate consumed #
| Substrate | Provides |
|---|---|
Semantics/Composition/Layered | BiLayered W ⟨A, N⟩ pair, three composition rules |
Semantics/Highlighting | HighlightingContext, Highlighted, AddressesQUD |
Discourse/EvidentialIllocution | assert, present, EvidentialAct, raisedPropositions |
Features/Evidentiality | CoarseSource (direct, hearsay, inference) |
Semantics/Questions/Hamblin | Question.polar for the polar QUD |
Methodological note #
The paper's data is original fieldwork with six Saraguro speakers,
following [Mat04], [BM15].
Per CLAUDE.md (per-language paper-specific data lives in Studies, not
Fragments), the felicity-judgment apparatus stays in this file; the
neutral consensus typology — that Saraguro Kichwa has a 3-way
evidential paradigm with the discourse-sensitive enclitic =mi — lives
in Fragments/Quechua/SaraguroKichwa/Evidentiality.lean.
§ 0. Evidential illocutionary operators (Faller / Murray) #
Substrate previously hosted at Discourse/EvidentialIllocution.lean,
inlined here per anchoring rule (sole consumer is this study file).
The assert/present distinction is [Fal02] /
[Mur14]; the raisedPropositions projection drives
[MV26]'s salience updates downstream.
Result of applying an illocutionary operator: speaker, addressee,
scope proposition, evidential (not-at-issue) proposition, and
commits-to-scope flag (true for assert, false for present).
- speaker : Discourse.DiscourseRole
- addressee : Discourse.DiscourseRole
- scope : Set W
- evidentialContent : Set W
- commitsToScope : Bool
Instances For
[Fal02]/[Fal19]: assert(⟨A, N⟩) commits the
speaker to both A and N. Used with direct evidentials.
Equations
- MartinezVera2026.assert s a β = { speaker := s, addressee := a, scope := {w : W | β.atIssue w}, evidentialContent := {w : W | β.notAtIssue w}, commitsToScope := true }
Instances For
[Mur14]/[Fal19]: present(⟨A, N⟩) brings A
to attention but does NOT commit to A; commits only to N. Used with
reportative/inferential evidentials.
Equations
- MartinezVera2026.present s a β = { speaker := s, addressee := a, scope := {w : W | β.atIssue w}, evidentialContent := {w : W | β.notAtIssue w}, commitsToScope := false }
Instances For
Propositions an act puts forward to the addressee. assert raises
the scope; present raises both scope and its complement (the open
polar issue).
Equations
- a.raisedPropositions = if a.commitsToScope = true then {a.scope} else {a.scope, a.scopeᶜ}
Instances For
Typological mapping from evidential source to illocutionary operator flavour.
- assertFlavour : IllocutionaryFlavour
- presentFlavour : IllocutionaryFlavour
Instances For
Equations
- MartinezVera2026.instDecidableEqIllocutionaryFlavour x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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Instances For
Equations
Equations
Equations
- MartinezVera2026.IllocutionaryFlavour.ofCoarseSource Features.Evidentiality.CoarseSource.direct = MartinezVera2026.IllocutionaryFlavour.assertFlavour
- MartinezVera2026.IllocutionaryFlavour.ofCoarseSource Features.Evidentiality.CoarseSource.hearsay = MartinezVera2026.IllocutionaryFlavour.presentFlavour
- MartinezVera2026.IllocutionaryFlavour.ofCoarseSource Features.Evidentiality.CoarseSource.inference = MartinezVera2026.IllocutionaryFlavour.presentFlavour
Instances For
Equations
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§ 1. The =mi denotation (paper eq. 37, polar reduction) #
Felicity condition for =mi attached to a scope expression S in
context c, given a focus alternative set alts. This is paper
eq. (37) for the case where alts is the polar partition {p, pᶜ}:
polar partitions admit no innocently excludable alternatives (negating
both gives {¬p, ¬pᶜ} = {¬p, p}, contradictory), so exhaustification
collapses to identity, and the paper's "exh(q) entails ¬S.A"
reduces to "q ⊆ S.atIssueᶜ".
Note: the polar reduction does NOT extend to constituent-focus
contrast cases (paper §3 examples 22–28), where alts may include
multiple elements with overlap. Those would consume the full
Semantics/Exhaustification.Excluder machinery.
Equations
- MartinezVera2026.miFelicitous c alts S = ∃ q ∈ alts, Semantics.Highlighting.Highlighted c q ∧ q ⊆ {w : W | S.atIssue w}ᶜ
Instances For
§ 2. The polar QUD setup #
The polar QUD over a contingent proposition p: alternatives are
{p, pᶜ}. Built from Question.polar p. Used as the QUD slot
in the discourse contexts that license a =mi follow-up.
With this (non-trivial) QUD, AddressesQUD does real filtering work:
a proposition addresses polarQUD p iff it is comparable to p or
to pᶜ. Both p and pᶜ themselves trivially address it (each is
a subset of itself), so the highlighted alternatives in the headline
contrast satisfy the QUD-addressing requirement of Highlighted.
Equations
- MartinezVera2026.polarQUD p = { salient := ∅, qud := Question.polar p }
Instances For
Either p or pᶜ is itself a maximal answer to polar p, when p
is contingent (p ≠ ∅ and p ≠ Set.univ). This is the substrate
fact Question.alt_polar_of_nontrivial.
p itself addresses the polar QUD over p: it equals one of the two
alternatives. Requires p contingent so the polar partition is
non-trivial.
pᶜ addresses the polar QUD over p: it equals the other
alternative. Requires p contingent.
§ 3. Discourse-update map (generic; consumes substrate) #
updateAfterAct c a adds the propositions an act a raises to the
salient set of c. The match-on-commitsToScope lives in the substrate
(EvidentialAct.raisedPropositions), not here — verum studies, biased
polar-question studies, and reportative-evidential studies all consume
the same generic update.
Generic discourse-update: an act adds the propositions it raises to
the salient set. The behaviour-distinguishing match is delegated to
the substrate's EvidentialAct.raisedPropositions.
Equations
- MartinezVera2026.updateAfterAct c a = { salient := c.salient ∪ a.raisedPropositions, qud := c.qud }
Instances For
§ 4. The headline contrast (paper exx. 47–50) #
The proofs derive from the substrate facts present_raises_polar_negation
and assert_does_not_raise_polar_negation. The match-on-commitsToScope
is exercised once in the substrate; here the consequences fall out.
After a reportative-evidential present(p) update, a =mi-marked
follow-up confirming p is felicitous: the witness is the highlighted
pᶜ, which is raised by present (substrate:
present_raises_polar_negation) and addresses the polar QUD over p
(substrate: addresses_polarQUD_compl).
Paper exx. 21/48. Hypotheses hne and hnu are the contingency
conditions on the scope: the paper assumes contingent scopes throughout.
The alternative set is the polar partition {p, pᶜ}.
After a direct-evidential assert(p) update, a =mi-marked follow-up
confirming p is NOT felicitous: only p itself is raised by
assert (substrate: assert_does_not_raise_polar_negation), and
p ⊆ pᶜ would force p = ∅, contradicting contingency.
Paper ex. 47 — the contrast that motivates the present/assert distinction.
§ 5. Cross-paper bridge: Höhle 1992 ↔ MV 2026 (polar reduction) #
For the polar alternative-set case {β.atIssue, β.atIssueᶜ}, MV's
miFelicitous reduces to Höhle's verumFelicitous: both demand that
¬β.atIssue be highlighted in the context. This makes the agreement
between the focus-on-polarity (Höhle) and focus-marker (MV) accounts
explicit at the type level. The disagreement with [RH04]'s
CommonGround-modal verum surfaces as the partition divergence in §6 below.
For the polar alternative-set case with contingent scope, MV's
miFelicitous reduces to Höhle's verumFelicitous: both predicates
demand that ¬β.atIssue (the scope's complement) be highlighted.
The contingency hypothesis hne : ∃ w, β.atIssue w rules out the
degenerate empty-scope case where every q ⊆ qᶜ vacuously and the
bridge would require Highlighted c univ from Highlighted c ∅ — not
generally derivable.
The mp direction: of the two polar alternatives, only β.atIssueᶜ
can satisfy q ⊆ β.atIssueᶜ non-trivially (given contingent scope).
The mpr direction packages the highlighted complement directly.
The MV =mi denotation packaged as a VerumOperator over the polar
alternative set {β.atIssue, β.atIssueᶜ}. The shared abstraction lets
mi_polar_iff_verumFelicitous (above) be re-stated as a felicity
equivalence between two VerumOperator W instances.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Cross-paper bridge restated at the VerumOperator level: under
contingent scope, MV's polar-reduction operator and Höhle's
verum-focus operator are extensionally equivalent.
§ 6. Cross-framework divergence: MV's partition vs R&H's verum partition #
Romero & Han 2004 analyse verum as a CommonGround-modal operator forSureCG
producing an unbalanced polar partition {forSureCG p, ¬forSureCG p}
(line-b account). MV implicitly takes a line-a (focus over polarity)
position: the partition over which =mi operates is the standard polar
{p, pᶜ}. These two partitions are in general distinct — the line-a/b
debate (Goodhue 2022a §1) is non-vacuous.
The MV polar partition {p, pᶜ} and the R&H verum partition
{forSureCG p, ¬forSureCG p} are in general distinct. There exist
contexts (witness: any model where forSureCG p ≠ p) in which MV's
line-a focus partition and R&H's line-b VERUM partition pick out
different cells.
Witness construction: the forSureCG operator can fail to coincide
with p whenever the speaker's epistemic state and conversational
goals don't trivially settle p — which is the very case that makes
verum interesting (cf. R&H §3 on biased polar questions).
§ 7. The defining commitment contrast (corollary of substrate) #
Direct evidentials commit the speaker to scope; reportatives do not.
This is MartinezVera2026.assert_commitsToScope and
present_commitsToScope packaged as a single statement. The reason
present highlights ¬p (and assert doesn't) is downstream of this
commitment difference, formalised in the substrate's
present_raises_polar_negation / assert_does_not_raise_polar_negation.
§ 8. Cross-Quechuan family contrast (paper §5) #
A label-only typology of published =mi analyses across Quechuan
varieties. This is currently a decide-distinct enum, not a
semantic taxonomy — each cell is a stand-in for a future per-paper
study file (Faller2002, Tellings2014, Grzech2020, Bendezú2023). Once
those exist, this enum should be replaced by MiSemantics W-shaped
inhabitants whose pairwise distinctness becomes a substantive theorem
about predicted felicity profiles, not an enum tautology.
Currently retained as a drift sentry: if a future formalisation
collapses any two analyses into one (e.g. by treating "epistemic
authority" as a sub-case of "verum + focus"), the
pairwise_distinct proof fails and forces a re-evaluation of the
paper's typological-divergence claim.
Analytic stance taken on =mi in a given Quechuan variety, as
surveyed in paper §5. Five mutually-incompatible claims, one per
variety. Each is a label awaiting a future per-paper study.
- verumPlusFocus : MiAnalysis
Verum + focus marker requiring discourse sensitivity to the QUD (Saraguro Kichwa per [MV26]).
- verumPlusContrast : MiAnalysis
Verum + corrective contrast (Conchucos Quechua per [Ben23]).
- directEvidentialOnly : MiAnalysis
- pureEvidentialNoFocus : MiAnalysis
Pure evidential, no focus role (Imbabura Kichwa per [Tel14]).
- epistemicAuthority : MiAnalysis
Epistemic-authority marker (Upper Napo Kichwa per [Grz20]).
Instances For
Equations
- MartinezVera2026.instDecidableEqMiAnalysis x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
- MartinezVera2026.instReprMiAnalysis = { reprPrec := MartinezVera2026.instReprMiAnalysis.repr }
Equations
The cross-Quechuan map from variety to published =mi analysis.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
The five published analyses are pairwise distinct as labels. Drift sentry: collapsing two cases breaks this.