Analysis of evidentiality in the speech of Guineans focusing on the (dis)commitment to the Portuguese language in relation to their native languages

Abstract

This article explains the evidential marks that particularize the speech of Guinean students when questioned about the languages they speak, showing to what extent they (dis)commit to what is said, as something that reveals the process of linguistic officiality through which their country in the light of the focus. The theoretical approach is based on research that makes us reflect on the status of the Portuguese language in the Lusophone community; as well as in researches that allow us to delineate the linguistic contours of Guinea-Bissau; in addition to the use-centered Linguistic Functionalism, which contemplates the reflection or discussion of its theoretical and methodological aspects applied to the description and analysis of Portuguese, which present us with evidentiality as a linguistic category that strategically allows the manipulation of information regarding the explanation of the source of informed knowledge and the degree of commitment of the subject-enunciator with such information.