This paper provides a systematic description and analysis of the non-predictive use of the Italian future. Several authors claim that, on this use, the Italian future is an evidential (Squartini 2001, Mari 2010, Eckardt and Beltrama 2019, Frana and Menéndez-Benito 2019). Others argue that the non-predictive future does not directly contribute an evidential signal (e.g., Giannakidou and Mari 2018, Farkas and Ippolito 2022). We side with the evidential camp. From an empirical standpoint, we present the results of a battery of tests that show that the non-predictive future patterns with evidentials cross-linguistically. From a theoretical standpoint, we put forward an analysis that combines a slightly modified version of the proposal for evidentials in Davis et al. (2007) with Schlenker’s (2007) view of expressive content. On this account, the Italian evidential future (i) lowers the quality threshold required to perform a successful speech act (Davis et al. 2007) and (ii) triggers an evidential presupposition relativized to the speaker’s beliefs (modeled after Schlenker’s analysis of expressives). Our treatment of the evidential component as an expressive presupposition opens up a new perspective on the study of evidentiality and highlights the need for further detailed empirical studies exploring the extent to which this perspective is applicable cross-linguistically.

本文对意大利未来的非预测性使用进行了系统的描述和分析。一些作者声称，就这一用途而言，意大利的未来是一个证据（Squartini 2001，Mari 2010，Eckardt 和 Beltrama 2019，Frana 和 Menéndez-Benito 2019）。其他人则认为，不可预测的未来不会直接提供证据信号（例如，Giannakidou 和 Mari 2018，Farkas 和 Ippolito 2022）。我们站在证据阵营一边。从实证的角度来看，我们提出了一系列测试的结果，这些测试表明具有跨语言证据的非预测未来模式。从理论的角度来看，我们提出了一种分析，结合了戴维斯等人的证据提案的稍微修改版本。(2007) 与 Schlenker (2007) 的表达内容观点。就这个账户而言，意大利证据未来（i）降低了执行成功言语行为所需的质量阈值（Davis et al. 2007），并且（ii）触发了与说话者信念相关的证据预设（以 Schlenker 对表达的分析为模型）。我们将证据成分视为表达性预设，为证据性研究开辟了新的视角，并强调需要进一步详细的实证研究，探索这一观点跨语言适用的程度。