Represented Speech

There are three ways of reproducing actual speech: a)repetition of exact utterance as it was spoken (direct speech), b)conversation of exact utterance into the relater’s mode of expression (indirect speech) and c)representation of the actual utterance by a second person, usually the author, as if it had been spoken, whereas it has not really been spoken but is only represented in the author’s words (represented speech)

To distinguish between the two varieties of represented speech we call the representation of the actual utterance through the author’s language uttered represented speech, and the representation of the thoughts and feelings of the character from the author’s word. Actually, direct speech is a quotation. Therefore it is always introduced by a verb like say, utter, declare, reply, exclaim, shout, cry, yell, gasp, babble, chuckle, murmur, sigh, call, beg, implore, comfort, assure, protest, object, command, admit and others. All these words help to indicate the intonation with which the sentence was actually uttered. Direct speech is always marked by inverted commas, as any quotation is. Here is an example:

“You want your money back,I suppose,” said George with a sneer.

“Of course I do - I always did, didn’t I?” says Dobbin.

(Thackeray)

Direct speech is sometimes used in the publicistic style of language as a quotation. The introductory words in this case are usually the following: as... has it, according to... and the like.

In the belles-lettres style direct speech is used to depict a character through his speech.

Direct speech can be viewed as a stylistic device only its setting in the midst of the author addresses the reader, we cannot classify the utterance as a direct speech. Direct speech is only the speech of a character in a piece of emotive prose.

We have indirect speech when the actual words of a character, as it were, pass though the author’s mouth in the course of his narrative and in this process undergo certain changes. The intonation of indirect speech is even and does not differ from the rest of the author’s narrative. The graphical substitues for the intonation give way to lexical unit which describe the intonation pattern. Sometimes indirect speech takes the form of a precise in which only the main points of the actual utterance are given. Thus, for instance, in the following passage:

“Marshalasked the crowd to disperse and urged responsible diggers to prevent any disturbance which would prolong the tragic force of the rush for which the publication of inaccurate was chiefly responsible.”(Katherine Prichard) Represented speech exist in two varieties: 1)uttered represented speech and 2)unuttered represented speech.

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