The Semantics of Free Indirect Discourse: How Texts Allow Us to Mind-Read and Eavesdrop

297 Pages·2015·1.48 MB·English

by  Regine Eckardt

TheSemanticsofFreeIndirectDiscourse
Current Research in the
Semantics/Pragmatics Interface
SeriesEditors
KlausvonHeusinger(UniversityofCologne)
KenTurner(UniversityofBrighton)
EditorialBoard
NicholasAsher(UniversitéPaulSabatier) ChungminLee(SeoulNationalUniversity)
JohanvanderAuwera(UniversityofAntwerp) ClaudiaMaienborn(UniversityofTübingen)
BettyBirner(NorthernIllinoisUniversity) AliceterMeulen(UniversityofGeneva)
ArielCohen(BenGurionUniversity) JaroslavPeregrin(CzechAcademyofSciences
PaulDekker(UniversityofAmsterdam) andUniversityofHradecKrálové)
RegineEckardt(UniversityofGöttingen) AllanRamsay(UniversityofManchester)
MarkusEgg(HumboltUniversityBerlin) RobvanderSandt(RadboudUniversity
DonkaFarkas(UniversityofCalifornia, Nijmegen)
SantaCruz) KjellJohanSæbø(UniversityofOslo,Norway)
BrendanGillon(McGillUniversity) RobertStalnaker(Massachusetts
JeroenGroenendijk(UniversityofAmsterdam) InstituteofTechnology)
YueguoGu(ChineseAcademyofSocialSciences) MartinStokhof(UniversityofAmsterdam)
LarryHorn(YaleUniversity) HenkZeevat(UniversityofAmsterdam)
YanHuang(UniversityofAuckland) ThomasEdeZimmermann(Universityof
ManfredKrifka(HumboldtUniversity) Frankfurt)
volume 31
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/crispi
The Semantics of Free
Indirect Discourse
HowTextsAllowUstoMind-ReadandEavesdrop
By
RegineEckardt
leiden | boston
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Eckardt,Regine.
Thesemanticsoffreeindirectdiscourse:howtextsallowustomind-readandeavesdrop/byRegine
Eckardt.
pagescm.–(Currentresearchinthesemantics/pragmaticsinterface;Volume31)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-26672-8(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-26673-5(e-book)1.Grammar,
Comparativeandgeneral–Indirectdiscourse.2.Semantics,Comparative.3.Grammar,Comparativeand
general–Verbphrase.4.Cognitivegrammar.5.Psycholinguistics.I.Title.
P301.5.I53E452015
401'.43–dc23
2014037772
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Contents
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
1.1 TheChallengeofFreeIndirectDiscourse 1
1.2 MacroandMicroLevelIndicators 6
1.3 ALittleBitofGrammar 14
1.4 TwoVoices 18
1.5 Preview 24
2 TheContextsofFreeIndirectDiscourse 29
2.1 KaplanonContext 31
2.2 InterpretingFreeIndirectDiscourse 36
2.3 EarlierFormalApproachestoFreeIndirectDiscourse 46
2.4 WhereDoesInnerContextComeFrom? 50
2.5 AdvancedIssues:Recursion 57
2.6 Summary 59
3 StoryUpdate 60
3.1 InformationasCommonGroundUpdate 63
3.2 NarrationandStoryUpdate 66
3.3 UpdatesbyAssertionandCommentary 69
3.4 AdvancedIssues:ExpressiveContentinModalContexts 79
3.5 Summary 85
4 TenseandAspect 88
4.1 Events,TenseandAspect 89
4.2 ForcingFreeIndirectDiscourse 100
4.3 DiscourseandFreeIndirectDiscourse 103
4.4 AdvancedIssues:InterfaceConsiderationsandExceptions 108
4.5 Summary 112
5 ParticlesinFreeIndirectDiscourse 114
5.1 SpeakerasaParameterinContextsofThought 114
5.2 Speaker’sAttitude:leider 116
5.3 SpeakerandCommonGround: ja 120
5.4 Speaker’sAgenda:also+Focus 126
5.5 Speaker’sEpistemicBackground:wohl 129
viii contents
5.6 Speaker’sObjections:doch 134
5.7 AdvancedIssues:HowTemporalandSpeakerOrientedIndexicals
Interact 138
5.8 Summary 147
6 Exclamatives 149
6.1 ExclamativesinDirectandIndirectDiscourse 149
6.2 Rett’sTheoryofExclamatives 155
6.3 TheTemporalStructureofExclamatives 158
6.4 Exclamatives,Times,andTensedDegrees 160
6.5 DerivedReferencetoGradablePost-States 166
6.6 AdvancedIssues:DeadEndsintheAnalysisofExclamatives 169
6.7 Summary 175
7 PredecessorsandAlternatives 177
7.1 Banfield 178
7.2 Schlenker 183
7.3 Sharvit 188
7.4 QuotationalTheories 197
8 MoreTenses,MoreMoods 205
8.1 TheKonjunktivinReportedSpeechandThought 206
8.2 AdvancedIssues:Fabricius-HansenandSæbø 217
8.3 FreeIndirectSpeechintheHistoricalPresent 221
9 ForbiddeninShiftedSpeech 228
9.1 BannedfromIndirectDiscourse 228
9.2 Vocatives 230
9.3 Imperatives 236
9.4 Summary 240
10 FinalPanorama 242
10.1 LookingBack 242
10.2 NewHorizons 247
10.3 Linguistics,Literature,andtheChallengeofFiction 251
Appendix:ASummaryofFormalProposals 257
References 269
Index 279
Preface
My interest in free indirect discourse, which eventually led to the present
monograph,wasinitiatedindiscussionsattheGöttingenCourantCenterText
Structures.TheCenterunitesscholarsfromdifferentdisciplines,amongthem
literatureandlinguistics,intheinvestigationoftextsandtheirstructure.Next
toothertopics,wejointlytriedtounderstandwhatcausestheimpressionthat
agiventextiswritten“fromacertainperspective”.Ourjointeffortstaughtme
thatourresearchstrategiesdifferininterestingways.Mycolleaguesfromlitera-
tureprimarilytookatop-downapproach.Startingfromtheoverallimpression
created by a passage of text, they were able to trace it back to manifold and
variedfactorsthatcontributetothisimpression.Linguistspreferredthemole’s
viewonthings.Zoominginonasinglewordorconstruction,theytriedtopre-
dict how its use would influence and colour the sentence where it occured.
Over time it became clear that the pattern known as free indirect discourse
(orGermanerlebteRede)constitutesanimportantandlinguisticallytractable
factorinperspectivetaking.Needlesstosay,theconstructiondoesnotbyfar
exhaustthephenomenonasdiscussedinliterature.1Still,itiscomplexenough
tojustifyaninvestigationandcanhardlybecoveredinasinglepaperoreven
monograph,asweshallsee.
Freeindirectdiscourseisamodeofnarrationwherewecanlistentoapro-
tagonist’s thought. The respective passages seem to be worded in part by a
protagonist of the ongoing story, in part by an external narrator. The follow-
ingpassage,takenfromKatherineMansfield’s AttheBay,showsfreeindirect
discourse.TheprotagonistStanleyistakingaswimintheseawhenheisdis-
turbedbyJonathan.
(1) JonathanwasgonebeforeStanleyhadfinished.(…) Butcursethefellow!
He’druinedStanley’sbathe.Whatanunpracticalidiotthemanwas!Stanley
struckouttoseaagain,andthenasquicklyswaminagain,andawayhe
rushedupthebeach.
Fromthesecondsentenceon,therearerepeatedcluesthatrevealStanleyasthe
speaker.WhenwereadCursethefellow!wewonderwho,plausibly,curses.What
anunpracticalidiotthemanwas!raisesthequestionofwhoisthesourceofthis
exclamative. The sentence He’d ruined Stanley’s bathe, sandwiched between
1 Perspectiveisalsoinvestigatedunderthetermfocalizationinnarratology.