Logophoric speech is not indirect

Towards a Syntactic Approach to Reported Speech Constructions

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3988440
AutoresTatiana Nikitina (0000-0002-5332-0345, CNRS-LLACAN & INALCO, LLACAN, UMR 8135 du CNRS , 7, rue Guy Môquet - BP 8 , Villejuif , 94801 , France, autor correspondente), Anna Bugaeva (Tokyo University of Science)
Ano2021
Volume59
Fascículo3
Páginas609-633
Data de publicação2021-05-26
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoLinguistics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0024-3949 • E-ISSN: 1613-396X
EditoraWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ling-2021-0067
OpenAlexW3163611295
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas33

The distinction between direct and indirect speech has long been known not to reflect the crosslinguistic diversity of speech reporting strategies. Yet prominent typological approaches remain firmly grounded in that traditional distinction and look to place language-specific strategies on a universalcontinuum, treating them as deviations from the "direct" and "indirect"ideals. We argue that despite their methodological attractiveness, continuum approaches do not provide a solid basis for crosslinguistic comparison. We aim to present an alternative by exploring the syntax oflogophoricspeech, which has been commonly treated in the literature as representative of "semi-direct" discourse. Based on data from two unrelated languages, Wan (Mande) and Ainu (isolate), we show that certain varieties of logophoric speech share a number of syntactic properties with direct speech, and none with indirect speech. Many of the properties of indirect speech that are traditionally described in terms ofperspectivefollow from its syntactically subordinate status. Constructions involving direct and logophoric speech, on the other hand, belong to a separate, universal type of structure. Our findings suggest that the alleged direct/indirect continuum conflates two independent aspects of speech reporting: the syntactic configuration in which the report is integrated, and language-specific meaning of indexical elements

Direct speech · Generative grammar · Indexicality · Indirect speech · Linguistics · Syntax · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation