The interpersonal level in English: Reported speech

Abstract

The aim of this article is to describe and classify a number of different forms of English reported speech (or thought), and subsequently to analyze and represent them within the theory of FDG. First, the most prototypical forms of reported speech are discussed (direct and indirect speech); subsequently some less prototypical modes of report (free direct and indirect speech, as well as a number of hybrid constructions) are considered. It is argued that these different constructions vary along two major parameters: direct versus indirect and framed versus free. It is therefore suggested that instead of representing different positions on a scale, these constructions are better regarded as occupying different slots in a matrix. In terms of FDG analysis, the difference between direct speech and indirect speech is shown to correspond to a difference in the type of entity denoted by the speech complement (a discourse act versus communicated content). The ±frame distinction is reflected in the representation of the communicated content (fully expressed versus holophrastic). The even less prototypical constructions, too, are given their own analysis; it is demonstrated that these constructions occupy their own position in the matrix