Vznik Evidenčných Operátorov V Slovenčine Z Hľadiska Gramatikalizačnej Teórie / The Rise of Evidential Operators in Slovak from the Perspective of Grammaticalization Theory

The study provides a synchronic account of evidenciality markers produced by grammaticalization processes in Slovak. While Slovak is not currently counted as having a grammaticalized evidenciality system, the high text frequency of verbal and adverbial operators that spred evidential scope over clauses is a clear indication of a great potential for such a system to be grammaticalized. The study describes two grammaticalization channels: from verb to parenthesis and particle, and from qualification adverb to commentary (sentence) adverb and particle. The research of grammaticalization steps is based on examination of material gained from the Slovak National Corpus.