Between modality and indexical categorization: the case of sapiddu and chi sacciu

Abstract

This paper undertakes to explore the various functions of the strategies sapiddu (lit. ‘knows he’, meaning ‘who knows’) and chi sacciu (lit. ‘what do I know?’, meaning ‘who knows’, ‘for instance’) in Present-day Sicilian. Sapiddu is used to convey epistemic commitment modulation, intensification and various evaluative meanings based on the reference to a 3^rd person unspecified individual (iddu, ‘he/him’). It will be argued that in some cases sapiddu gives rise to syntactic amalgams in specific patterns generally (but not exclusively) connected with the function of intensification. Moreover, we will focus on the marker chi sacciu, namely, a strategy often employed with exemplification functions. Specifically, it will be argued that some examples are introduced in order to build categories. This is undertaken through a bottom-up (or exemplar-driven) process based on analogy and abstraction over the mentioned examples. Furthermore, the marker can be used with a function of genuine epistemic modulation. In the end, we will make some hypotheses on the development of the mentioned functions variously related to the realms of epistemic and evaluative positioning in discourse.