This course explores the domains of epistemics and evidentiality in grammar and social interaction. We will examine both the ways in which English and other languages express if, whether, and how one knows something (epistemic modality and evidentiality) as well as how participants negotiate who knows what when engaging in everyday social interaction (epistemic stance and status). Furthermore, we will explore how these two domains, i.e. the grammar of knowledge and the epistemics of interaction, are related.

The course is ideal for students with a background in English Linguistics and those who have taken the TMA Modules. The course will incorporate insights about grammar in social interaction from typology, Conversation Analysis, and Interactional Linguistics. As such, the course help students develop insights into how grammar and social interaction are organized, enable students to describe and analyze grammatical and interactional patterns, and consider the real-world implications of insights from research on these domains.