Periodic Reporting for period 4 - SPEECHREPORTING (Discourse reporting in African storytelling)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-08-01 do 2023-10-31
Reported speech is a universal feature of storytelling, but we do not yet understand all aspects of its functioning across languages and cultures. Words and constructions appear in reported speech that are not attested in other types of discourse. Some of the strategies characteristic of reported speech are grammatical: for example, a language may develop a special set of logophoric pronouns to refer to a reported speaker – to distinguish the “I” of the story’s characters from the “I” of the storyteller; or a language may use special verb forms or specialized clause-introducing markers to signal that the clause is part of reported speech (cf. reportative or renarrative verb forms and quotative markers). Other strategies may be lexical or more broadly rhetorical: the speech of certain characters may be associated with characteristic words, prosodic patterns, even ungrammaticalities and elements of a foreign language. The project addressed this diversity based on a collection of oral narratives from a number of underdescribed languages spoken in West Africa and Eurasia.
Our data samples allowed us to assess differences and similarities in the way reported speech is introduced by storytellers from different cultures, and to explore their use of linguistic and extra-linguistic strategies to integrate speech of different characters into its surrounding context. Systematic comparison of speech reporting strategies sheds light on the limits of cross-linguistic diversity in this universal aspect of language use. It allowed us to see which grammatical devices evolve in which languages and how, and to address the role of culture-specific narrative conventions and performance context in the evolution of grammar. The study also helped us to identify discourse practices and linguistic devices that are critical to successful storytelling and characteristic of disappearing oral traditions in a number of understudied cultures.
Our data samples allowed us to assess differences and similarities in the way reported speech is introduced by storytellers from different cultures, and to explore their use of linguistic and extra-linguistic strategies to integrate speech of different characters into its surrounding context. Systematic comparison of speech reporting strategies sheds light on the limits of cross-linguistic diversity in this universal aspect of language use. It allowed us to see which grammatical devices evolve in which languages and how, and to address the role of culture-specific narrative conventions and performance context in the evolution of grammar. The study also helped us to identify discourse practices and linguistic devices that are critical to successful storytelling and characteristic of disappearing oral traditions in a number of understudied cultures.
The project relied heavily on recordings of traditional storytelling sessions made in the field in several countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Macedonia, and different parts of Russia). An annotation scheme was developed for the systematic classification of constructions involving reported discourse, and large data sets were annotated according to the scheme. The results of the cross-linguistic comparison have been reported in a number of conference presentations and publications.
The data were uploaded to the multilingual SpeechReporting corpus (http://discoursereporting.huma-num.fr/corpus.html ), which documents the still thriving oral traditions of West Africa and Eurasia. The data in the corpus are annotated for instances of reported discourse, categorized in terms of construction choice and various aspects of meaning (such as the illocutionary force of the quoted speech and the interpretation of indexicals within the report). The data was originally glossed and annotated in ELAN, then converted to .json and integrated into a Tsakorpus-based interface to allow searching on the additional levels specifically associated with the reported speech. The multilingual corpus was then used to study both structural phenomena and various stylistic and generic aspects of traditional narration.
A number of issues were identified as particularly important from a theoretical point of view. Among the most prominent issues were the non-universality of the distinction between direct and indirect speech (which is central to speech reporting in European languages but underrepresented in the languages of our sample); previously unnoticed aspects of the functioning of specialized logophoric pronouns (pronouns specifically reserved for the reported speaker) in narrative discourse; and the interaction between grammatical and extra-grammatical means of marking stretches of discourse as reported speech (in particular, the use of interjections to introduce reported speech).
The data were uploaded to the multilingual SpeechReporting corpus (http://discoursereporting.huma-num.fr/corpus.html ), which documents the still thriving oral traditions of West Africa and Eurasia. The data in the corpus are annotated for instances of reported discourse, categorized in terms of construction choice and various aspects of meaning (such as the illocutionary force of the quoted speech and the interpretation of indexicals within the report). The data was originally glossed and annotated in ELAN, then converted to .json and integrated into a Tsakorpus-based interface to allow searching on the additional levels specifically associated with the reported speech. The multilingual corpus was then used to study both structural phenomena and various stylistic and generic aspects of traditional narration.
A number of issues were identified as particularly important from a theoretical point of view. Among the most prominent issues were the non-universality of the distinction between direct and indirect speech (which is central to speech reporting in European languages but underrepresented in the languages of our sample); previously unnoticed aspects of the functioning of specialized logophoric pronouns (pronouns specifically reserved for the reported speaker) in narrative discourse; and the interaction between grammatical and extra-grammatical means of marking stretches of discourse as reported speech (in particular, the use of interjections to introduce reported speech).
Several important findings emerged from the cross-linguistic comparison of speech reporting strategies used in narrative discourse.
First, our exploration of the phenomenon of logophoricity in its natural discourse environment helped us to identify a number of problems with previous characterizations of logophoric pronouns, particularly challenging the notion of the logophoric pronoun as an element of indirect discourse and the assumption that constructions with logophoric pronouns share properties with both direct and indirect speech. Our data allowed us to show that African-style logophoricity differs in important ways from phenomena related to logophoric reference in European languages, leading us to believe that African-style logophoricity is a lexical rather than a syntactic phenomenon, and is best described as part of the language-specific system of personal deixis.
Second, our data suggest that the distinction between direct and indirect speech, which is central to discourse reporting in European languages, is not universal. The principles underlying this distinction in European languages differ from those underlying the choice between reported speech constructions in other languages. In particular, the traditional notion of indirect discourse is, on closer inspection, a complex one, involving a rather peculiar combination of parameters relating to different levels of linguistic structure (such as syntactic subordination and special use of deictic elements); the different parameters often operate independently in non-European languages. This observation challenges the “continuum” view of reported speech, which assumes that across languages reported speech constructions are organized along a continuum between two extremes, conveniently instantiated in European languages by “direct” and “indirect” speech.
Finally, our annotation method allowed us to perform a systematic statistical analysis of the distributions of words and constructions within and outside of reported speech, and to establish that word classes are unevenly distributed between reported speech and other parts of the narrative. Interjections, for example, are particularly likely to appear in reported speech, while ideophones only rarely do so. Asymmetric distributions allow us to identify subtle semantic distinctions between word classes and grammatical categories. Thus, interjections may be used by narrators to signal the beginning of reported discourse in much the same way as grammatical markers such as specialized quotative markers.
First, our exploration of the phenomenon of logophoricity in its natural discourse environment helped us to identify a number of problems with previous characterizations of logophoric pronouns, particularly challenging the notion of the logophoric pronoun as an element of indirect discourse and the assumption that constructions with logophoric pronouns share properties with both direct and indirect speech. Our data allowed us to show that African-style logophoricity differs in important ways from phenomena related to logophoric reference in European languages, leading us to believe that African-style logophoricity is a lexical rather than a syntactic phenomenon, and is best described as part of the language-specific system of personal deixis.
Second, our data suggest that the distinction between direct and indirect speech, which is central to discourse reporting in European languages, is not universal. The principles underlying this distinction in European languages differ from those underlying the choice between reported speech constructions in other languages. In particular, the traditional notion of indirect discourse is, on closer inspection, a complex one, involving a rather peculiar combination of parameters relating to different levels of linguistic structure (such as syntactic subordination and special use of deictic elements); the different parameters often operate independently in non-European languages. This observation challenges the “continuum” view of reported speech, which assumes that across languages reported speech constructions are organized along a continuum between two extremes, conveniently instantiated in European languages by “direct” and “indirect” speech.
Finally, our annotation method allowed us to perform a systematic statistical analysis of the distributions of words and constructions within and outside of reported speech, and to establish that word classes are unevenly distributed between reported speech and other parts of the narrative. Interjections, for example, are particularly likely to appear in reported speech, while ideophones only rarely do so. Asymmetric distributions allow us to identify subtle semantic distinctions between word classes and grammatical categories. Thus, interjections may be used by narrators to signal the beginning of reported discourse in much the same way as grammatical markers such as specialized quotative markers.