Indirect Discourse (Noun)
Meaning
A report of a discourse in which deictic terms are modified appropriately (e.g., "he said `I am a fool'" would be modified to "he said he is a fool").
Classification
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.
Examples
- The teacher tried to convey the student's indirect discourse, "he said he would never attend the party again", to the concerned parents.
- In indirect discourse, the pronouns and verb tenses are adjusted to fit the context of the conversation, resulting in "she told me she was tired" instead of "I'm tired".
- The journalist carefully transcribed the witness's statement into indirect discourse, changing the original sentence "the suspect is following me" to "the suspect was following the witness".
- The researcher examined the children's indirect discourse reports, finding that their tenses often conflicted with the original speaker's, producing sentences like "he said she is going to the park tomorrow" when the original speaker had said "I'm going to the park tomorrow".
- After conducting the interview, the lawyer's assistant rewrote the suspect's confession in indirect discourse, changing "I stole the money yesterday" to "he said he had stolen the money the previous day".