Probability and certainty markers in French and in Spanish (sans doute / sin duda)

In this article, we analyse the modal forms sans doute and sin duda. Despite their formal similarity, they do not always represent the same degree of certainty in French and Spanish. After a detailed analysis of their use in both languages, our conclusions show that sans doute is a probability marke...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Miche, Elisabeth, Lorda, Clara U.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/34081
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/34081
http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/ld.4.1.03mic
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Certainty
Discourse genres
Evidential
Modal
Probability
Descripción
Sumario:In this article, we analyse the modal forms sans doute and sin duda. Despite their formal similarity, they do not always represent the same degree of certainty in French and Spanish. After a detailed analysis of their use in both languages, our conclusions show that sans doute is a probability marker, whereas sin duda is an (almost) certainty marker. After examining the relationship of these modal markers with evidentiality, we underscore the epistemic character of both markers; they are related to belief and subjectivity, thus the nature of certainty that they express is indirect and subjective. Sin duda manifests a higher degree of conviction than sans doute.