Title : Epistemic complementizers – a cross - linguistic survey

Presentation: Oral presentation As they are most often thought of, complementizers may be defined as linguistic expressions that have a particular function: the function of identifying the clauses in which they occur as complements (Noonan 2007: 55). In addition to this function, however, complementizers may have a modal function (e.g. Frajzyngier 1995). In Jacaltec, for instance, the complementizers chubil and tato indicate different degrees of certainty about the propositions expressed by the complement clauses they introduce. According to Craig (1977: 267), "the use of chubil denotes a high degree of credibility or certainty, and the use of tato introduces a notion of disbelief or reservation about a hearsay". Thus, (1) indicates a higher degree of certainty than (2) about the proposition 'the president is going to come'.