The Semantics of Free Indirect Discourse
How Texts Allow Us to Mind-read and Eavesdrop
Published on 28. November 2014
Book
Hardback
296 pages
978-90-04-26672-8 (ISBN)
Description
Free indirect discourse presents us with the inner world of protagonists of a story. We seem to see the world through their eyes, and listen to their inner thoughts. The present study analyses the logic of free indirect discourse and offers a framework to represent multiple ways in which words betray the speaker's feelings and attitude. The theory covers tense, aspect, temporal indexicals, modal particles, exclamatives and other expressive elements and their dependence on shifting utterance contexts. It traces the subtle ways in which story texts can offer information about protagonists.
The study of free indirect discourse has been a topic of great interest in recent years in semantics and pragmatics. In this book, Regine Eckardt proposes a new theory of this domain and applies it to a wide variety of phenomena -- discourse particles, exclamatives, and mood -- in addition to the traditional indexical pronouns and tenses. She situates this project within a larger attempt to extend the tools of semantic analysis to fiction. Most formally oriented semanticists have not paid serious attention to this domain, which has resulted in a major gap in semantic theory; this book is thus a pioneering effort and raises many intriguing points. The total result is an empirically rich and exciting work which will be a profitable read for researchers interested in semantics, pragmatics, and formal approaches to literature. Eric McCready, Aoyama Gakuin University
The study of free indirect discourse has been a topic of great interest in recent years in semantics and pragmatics. In this book, Regine Eckardt proposes a new theory of this domain and applies it to a wide variety of phenomena -- discourse particles, exclamatives, and mood -- in addition to the traditional indexical pronouns and tenses. She situates this project within a larger attempt to extend the tools of semantic analysis to fiction. Most formally oriented semanticists have not paid serious attention to this domain, which has resulted in a major gap in semantic theory; this book is thus a pioneering effort and raises many intriguing points. The total result is an empirically rich and exciting work which will be a profitable read for researchers interested in semantics, pragmatics, and formal approaches to literature. Eric McCready, Aoyama Gakuin University
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Laminated cover
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
591 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-26672-8 (9789004266728)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Regine Eckardt Ph.D. (1996) University of Stuttgart, is Professor of semantics/pragmatics at the English department of Goettingen University. She has worked and published on the meaning of focus and information structure, discourse particles, as well as semantic change and grammaticalization.
Content
1 Introduction
1.1 The Challenge of Free Indirect Discourse
1.2 Macro and Micro Level Indicators
1.3 A Little Bit of Grammar
1.4 Two Voices
1.5 Preview
2 The Contexts of Free Indirect Discourse
2.1 Kaplan on Context
2.2 Interpreting Free Indirect Discourse
2.3 Earlier Formal Approaches to Free Indirect Discourse
2.4 Where Does Inner Context Come From?
2.5 Advanced Issues: Recursion
2.6 Summary
3 Story Update
3.1 Information as Common Ground Update
3.2 Narration and Story Update
3.3 Updates by Assertion and Commentary
3.4 Advanced Issues: Expressive Content in Modal Contexts
3.5 Summary
4 Tense and Aspect
4.1 Events, Tense and Aspect
4.2 Forcing Free Indirect Discourse
4.3 Discourse and Free Indirect Discourse
4.4 Advanced Issues: Interface Considerations and Exceptions
4.5 Summary
5 Particles in Free Indirect Discourse
5.1 Speaker as a Parameter in Contexts of Thought
5.2 Speaker's Attitude: leider
5.3 Speaker and Common Ground: ja
5.4 Speaker's Agenda: also + Focus
5.5 Speaker's Epistemic Background: wohl
5.6 Speaker's Objections: doch
5.7 Advanced Issues: How Temporal and Speaker Oriented Indexicals Interact
5.8 Summary 147
6 Exclamatives
6.1 Exclamatives in Direct and Indirect Discourse
6.2 Rett's Theory of Exclamatives
6.3 The Temporal Structure of Exclamatives
6.4 Exclamatives, Times, and Tensed Degrees
6.5 Derived Reference to Gradable Post-States
6.6 Advanced Issues: Dead Ends in the Analysis of Exclamatives
6.7 Summary
7 Predecessors and Alternatives
7.1 Banfield
7.2 Schlenker
7.3 Sharvit
7.4 Quotational Theories
8 More Tenses, More Moods
8.1 The Konjunktiv in Reported Speech and Thought
8.2 Advanced Issues: Fabricius-Hansen and Saebo
8.3 Free Indirect Speech in the Historical Present
9 Forbidden in Shifted Speech
9.1 Banned from Indirect Discourse
9.2 Vocatives
9.3 Imperatives
9.4 Summary
10 Final Panorama
10.1 Looking Back
10.2 New Horizons
10.3 Linguistics, Literature, and the Challenge of Fiction
1.1 The Challenge of Free Indirect Discourse
1.2 Macro and Micro Level Indicators
1.3 A Little Bit of Grammar
1.4 Two Voices
1.5 Preview
2 The Contexts of Free Indirect Discourse
2.1 Kaplan on Context
2.2 Interpreting Free Indirect Discourse
2.3 Earlier Formal Approaches to Free Indirect Discourse
2.4 Where Does Inner Context Come From?
2.5 Advanced Issues: Recursion
2.6 Summary
3 Story Update
3.1 Information as Common Ground Update
3.2 Narration and Story Update
3.3 Updates by Assertion and Commentary
3.4 Advanced Issues: Expressive Content in Modal Contexts
3.5 Summary
4 Tense and Aspect
4.1 Events, Tense and Aspect
4.2 Forcing Free Indirect Discourse
4.3 Discourse and Free Indirect Discourse
4.4 Advanced Issues: Interface Considerations and Exceptions
4.5 Summary
5 Particles in Free Indirect Discourse
5.1 Speaker as a Parameter in Contexts of Thought
5.2 Speaker's Attitude: leider
5.3 Speaker and Common Ground: ja
5.4 Speaker's Agenda: also + Focus
5.5 Speaker's Epistemic Background: wohl
5.6 Speaker's Objections: doch
5.7 Advanced Issues: How Temporal and Speaker Oriented Indexicals Interact
5.8 Summary 147
6 Exclamatives
6.1 Exclamatives in Direct and Indirect Discourse
6.2 Rett's Theory of Exclamatives
6.3 The Temporal Structure of Exclamatives
6.4 Exclamatives, Times, and Tensed Degrees
6.5 Derived Reference to Gradable Post-States
6.6 Advanced Issues: Dead Ends in the Analysis of Exclamatives
6.7 Summary
7 Predecessors and Alternatives
7.1 Banfield
7.2 Schlenker
7.3 Sharvit
7.4 Quotational Theories
8 More Tenses, More Moods
8.1 The Konjunktiv in Reported Speech and Thought
8.2 Advanced Issues: Fabricius-Hansen and Saebo
8.3 Free Indirect Speech in the Historical Present
9 Forbidden in Shifted Speech
9.1 Banned from Indirect Discourse
9.2 Vocatives
9.3 Imperatives
9.4 Summary
10 Final Panorama
10.1 Looking Back
10.2 New Horizons
10.3 Linguistics, Literature, and the Challenge of Fiction