Epistemic Modality - Epistemic Modality and Evidentiality

Epistemic Modality and Evidentiality

Some linguists consider evidentiality (the indication of the source of the information upon which a proposition is based) to be a type of epistemic modality, and oppose it to judgement modality as epistemic modality based on the speaker's own judgement. An English example follows:

I doubt that it rained yesterday. (judgement epistemic: judgement of information source)

I heard that it rained yesterday. (evidential: identification of information source)

However, other linguists feel that evidentiality is distinct from and not necessarily related to modality. Some languages mark evidentiality separately from epistemic modality.