(De-)constructing evidentiality

•Evidentials present, rather than assert, a proposition.•Presented p's update the origo ground, asserted p's update the common ground.•Presentative force can be coded lexically, morphologicallly, or syntactically.

Extending Faller (2002), we analyze clauses with evidential marking as presenting, but not asserting, a proposition p. Crucial to this analysis is the distinction between common ground and origo ground. The common ground regulates p's to which interlocutors have made a commitment and is subject to the logic of contradiction: p and not-p cannot hold at the same time. The origo ground regulates p's that depend on a perspective-holder's experience and is subject to the logic of faultless disagreement: p and not-p can hold concurrently, as long as they live in two distinct origo gounds. This has two consequences. First, languages differ in default illocutionary force: assertion versus presentation. Second, languages differ in how they code presentational force: lexically (English), morphologically (Nuu-chah-nulth), or syntactically (Plains Cree).