To understand in interaction: the rise of epistemic and evidential constructions based on "capire" in spoken Italian

This study explores the use of the verb capire ‘to understand’ in spoken Italian, focusing on its epistemic and evidential constructions. Using data from the KIParla corpus, the research investigates the discourse functions of capire beyond its lexical meaning. The analysis reveals how the verbalization of ongoing understanding in linguistic interaction is often motivated by goals connected to the success of the communication flow, such as backchanneling and attention-getting, but also to the management of shared knowledge during conversation, such as hedging, arguing, or communicating surprise. The study also examines the sociolinguistic variation in the use of constructions based on capire, showing that the possibility to explicitly mention the process of understanding is closely dependent on the symmetric vs. asymmetric relation between the interlocutors, the register, and the goal of the interaction.