The Lexicalization of Grammatical Markers of Evidentiality: The Case of mish-mish(lar) in Uzbek

Turkic languages are critical in studies on evidentiality, since it is one of the language groups that have grammatical markers to indicate the source of information as the basis of a proposition. In this conceptual framework, -mIs, seen since Old Turkic, is considered as an aspect-tense marker or evidential, and er-mis. as an evidential. The particle e(r)mish, which has been grammaticalized in most Turkic languages, is used for hearsay in Uzbek and then it was lexicalized as mish-mish(lar) by reduplication in the semantic domain of hearsay under evidentiality. The lexicalized morpheme is defined with the synonyms of 'rumor' as a lexical entry. Similar uses are found in other Turkic languages such as Kyrgyz, Kazakh and the Cypriot dialect of Turkish. The evolution of these items in four languages shows that grammatical markers of hearsay tend to lead to lexicalization. In this study, the lexicalization of the grammatical evidential is discussed in terms of the hearsay under evidentiality in Uzbek. The study aims to present data about lexicalized structures in Turkic languages, to explain the importance of evidentiality in communication and the role of the semantic domain in this process. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in the analysis. The findings indicate that mish-mish(lar) evolved from a bound-morpheme to a free-morpheme by reduplication over time.