Chapter 16 Evidentiality, or knowing how we know
Assumption ho
ho rests a claim on background expectation rather than evidence specific to the present case.
thia shorui ho nai. — I assume you are weary.
shia womu ho nai. — I assume they are home.
pheralu so ho lepa. — I assume rain will fall.
The particle does not encode a numerical probability or a particular level of confidence. A speaker may hold an assumption lightly or stubbornly; ho says where the claim begins.
Assumption and inference
ke starts from signs in this case. ho starts from a general expectation:
shia to ke wepu. — I infer they left because their coat and basket are gone.
shia to ho wepu. — I assume they left because they usually leave by now.
Both clauses assert a past departure and may be wrong. The evidence available for the first and the expectation behind the second are different things to examine.
Assumption and possibility
ho names source; po marks the event as possible:
pheralu ho lepa. — I assume rain is falling.
pheralu po lepa. — Rain may fall.
The two can combine in their fixed ranks: pheralu ho po lepa. means that, from background expectation, the speaker assumes rainfall is possible.
Assumptive marking can be especially useful when discussing another person's plans or state. Politeness does not follow from it. thia shorui ho nai is still an assertion about the listener, and a question may be the better form when their answer is available.
Breath leads ho into rounded o. Its lightly held contour can be a mnemonic, but it carries no lower epistemic rank. Assumptions deserve correction or confirmation according to their consequences and the evidence, not according to how soft the particle sounds.