TY - JOUR
T1 - Language shifts in free indirect discourse
AU - Maier, Emar
PY - 2014/9
Y1 - 2014/9
N2 - Free indirect discourse is a way of reporting what a protagonist thinks or says that is distinct from both direct and indirect discourse. In particular, while pronouns and tenses are presented from the narrator's perspective, as in indirect discourse, other indexical and expressive elements reflect the protagonist's point of view, as in direct discourse. In this paper I discuss a number of literary examples of free indirect discourse in which the narrator slips into the language, dialect or idiolect of the protagonist. I argue that the leading formal semantic analyses of free indirect discourse, which rely on semantic context shifting, fail to account for such language shifts. I then present an alternative account that treats free indirect discourse as a form of mixed quotation.
AB - Free indirect discourse is a way of reporting what a protagonist thinks or says that is distinct from both direct and indirect discourse. In particular, while pronouns and tenses are presented from the narrator's perspective, as in indirect discourse, other indexical and expressive elements reflect the protagonist's point of view, as in direct discourse. In this paper I discuss a number of literary examples of free indirect discourse in which the narrator slips into the language, dialect or idiolect of the protagonist. I argue that the leading formal semantic analyses of free indirect discourse, which rely on semantic context shifting, fail to account for such language shifts. I then present an alternative account that treats free indirect discourse as a form of mixed quotation.
KW - free indirect discourse
KW - formal semantics
KW - direct vs. indirect discourse
KW - quotation
KW - context shift
KW - dialect
KW - narrative
U2 - 10.1515/jls-2014-0010
DO - 10.1515/jls-2014-0010
M3 - Article
SN - 1613-3838
VL - 43
SP - 143
EP - 167
JO - Journal of literary semantics
JF - Journal of literary semantics
IS - 2
ER -