Truth-words

Questionnaire

The data were collected using the following questionnaire.

tag	description	stimulus
`truth`	What ‘truth’-word is used in the argument position?	He always tells the truth.
`true`	What ‘truth’-word is used in the attributive position?	It is a true story. [I’m not lying]
`be_true`	What ‘truth’-word is used in the predicative position?	It’s the truth. [It is not made up, it is how things are]
`correct`	Can any of the ‘truth’-words also mean ‘right’?	Is this the right (correct) answer? [Or is it the wrong answer?]
`real_not_fake`	Can any of the ‘truth’-words also mean ‘genuine, original’?	Are these documents real? [Or are they fakes?]
`real_not_imagined`	Can any of the ‘truth’-words also mean ‘real’?	She thinks Narnia is a real country. [It’s actually made up]
`int_attr`	Can any of the ‘truth’-words be used as an intensifier of an adjective in the noun phrase?	She is a very beautiful woman.
`int_nonvpred`	Can any of the ‘truth’-words be used as an intensifier of a nominal predicate?	I’m very happy that he came.
`int_pred`	Can any of the ‘truth’-words be used as an intensifier of a verbal predicate?	I really want to go. [I can’t stand it here.]
`counter_loosener`	Does any of the ‘truth’-words have the counter-loosener function (in terms of Bardenstein & Ariel 2022)?	He is a true fighter [He has all the qualities characteristic of a fighter]
`selective`	Does any of the ‘truth’-words have the selective function (in terms of Beekhuizen et al. 2023)?	The real problem is that we don’t have water. [That’s what we need to focus on]
`tag`	Can any of the ‘truth’-words be used as a tag-question?	The weather is great today, right?
`affirm`	Can any of the ‘truth’-words be used as an affirmation marker?	[The weather is great today, right?] Yes, it is.
`contrast_clausal1`	Is any of the ‘truth’-words be involved in a contrastive (‘but’, ‘although’) marker introducing a finite clause?	Although he is young, he is a skilled doctor. (He is indeed young, but he is a skilled doctor.)
`contrast_clausal2`	Is any of the ‘truth’-words involved in a contrastive (‘but’, ‘although’) marker introducing a finite clause?	He is a good person, although/admittedly (but the truth is) he brags a lot.
`contrast_attr`	Is any of the ‘truth’-words involved in a contrastive (‘but’, ‘although’) marker introducing an attributive modifier?	We were at a good, although expensive, restaurant yesterday.
`contrast_adv`	Is any of the ‘truth’-words involved in a contrastive (‘but’, ‘although’) marker introducing an adverbial modifier?	The buses run, although rarely.
`subjectification`	Are any of the ‘truth’-words involved in expressions introducing subjective evaluation statements?	Frankly speaking (to tell the truth), I don’t like this idea.

Languages

The sample includes 50 languages spoken in Eurasia.

‘Truth’-words analyzed in each of the languages are listed in the table below.

How to cite

If you use this database in your research, please cite as follows:

Bondarenko, Alice, Anastasia Panova & Anna Sjöberg. 2025. Extended functions of 'truth'-words. A typological database. Stockholm: Stockholm University. Available online at https://anapanifica.github.io/truth/.