Indirect reports and slurring

pp. 145-169

in: Alessandro Capone, The pragmatics of indirect reports, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

According to Vološinov (1971), there is a tension between two indirect discourse practices; one in which the reported message's integrity is preserved and the boundaries between the main message and the embedded reported message are formally marked and one in which such boundaries are dissolved as the reporting context allows the reporting speaker to intrude to a greater extent and transform the message by stylistic interpolations. This tension is clearly resolved, in the context of this chapter on indirect reports, through the recognition of pragmatic principles assigning default interpretations (according to which the boundaries between the reporting message and the reported message are clearly visible and the reported speaker's voice prevails at least within the embedded message), while allowing context to create priorities sometimes overriding the default interpretations and making the otherwise costly violations of pragmatic principles worthwhile by facilitating the information flow and subordinating it to the exigencies of the embedding context.