Assessing hierarchical categories of evidentiality in Chinese in terms of readers’ certainty levels

Abstract This study examines whether knowledge encoded in evidential categories is perceived differently by readers with varying levels of certainty. A questionnaire with a five-point scale was conducted to collect readers’ judgments about events introduced by evidential markers in Chinese. The evidential markers were manually categorized into categories, and inter-rater agreement was calculated. The findings reveal two hierarchies in terms of readers’ degree of certainty in judging the veracity of the knowledge: visual > hearsay and inference > quotative > hearsay. Additionally, three factors were observed to influence readers’ judgments about events: (a) whether a detailed event depiction is provided, (b) whether knowledge of an event is provided by more than one source, and (c) whether knowledge of an event has a close relationship with readers’ political standpoints or personal societal beliefs.