"Reproduction" of speech in spoken expression (direct, indirect and free indirect speech nearly a century after Haller)
Abstract
In his 1929 study published in Naše řeč, Jiří Haller introduced the term free indirect speech. He also explored how direct, indirect and free indirect speech works in spoken discourse, showing how difficult it is to distinguish among the three forms and how the frequent use of the particle prý/prej contributes to the blurriness of the boundaries between them.
In an effort to respond to Haller's notions, we present some results from current research on the syntax of spoken Czech drawing on corpus data. We focus on the role and use of the particle prý/prej: a) as concerns its changing functions and semantics; b) whether it signals the reproduction of the speaker's own speech or the speech of others; c) its position (inside the introductory segment or inside the reproduced segment).