Hearsay Evidential Markers: On the Degree of Grammaticalization of Italian dice che and Romanian cică

In this study, I examined the hearsay evidential markers, namely dice che in Italian (central southern varieties) and cică in Romanian, both of which convey the meaning ‘it is said that/allegedly’ and have solidified into functional elements within their respective languages. To verify that the forms dice che/cică represent evidential markers, I analysed them phonologically, morphologically, syntactically and semantically. I began with Italian dice che, which has not undergone phonological reduction. Subsequently, after a brief overview of other Romance languages, I examined Romanian cică to understand its degree of grammaticalization. The results thus obtained clearly show the differences in the degree of grammaticalization between dice che and cică: Italian dice che is still in an early stage of grammaticalization, while Romanian cică is much more advanced.