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Article published In: Notes from the field on perspective-indexing constructions: Irregular shifts and perspective persistence
Edited by Stef Spronck, An Van linden, Caroline Gentens and María Sol Sansiñena
[Functions of Language 27:1] 2020
► pp. 78–99

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Logophoricity and shifts of perspective

New facts and a new account

 | CNRS-LLACAN
Published online: 15 April 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.20001.nik
Abstract
This study presents a typology of existing approaches to logophoricity and discusses problems the different approaches face. It addresses, in particular, perspective-based accounts describing constructions with logophoric pronouns in terms of their intermediate position on the direct-indirect continuum (Evans, Nicholas. 2013. Some problems in the typology of quotation: A canonical approach. In Dunstan Brown, Marina Chumakina & Greville G. Corbett (eds.), Canonical Morphology and Syntax, 66–98. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), and lexical accounts incorporating the idea of coreference with the reported speaker into the pronoun’s meaning, either through role-to-value mapping mechanisms (. 2012a. Personal deixis and reported discourse: Towards a typology of person alignment. Linguistic Typology 16(2). 233–263. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2012b. Logophoric discourse and first person reporting in Wan (West Africa). Anthropological Linguistics 54(3). 280–301. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), or through feature specification (Schlenker, Philippe. 2003a. Indexicality, logophoricity, and plural pronouns. In Jacqueline Lecarme (ed.), Research in Afroasiatic grammar II: Selected papers from the Fifth Conference on Afroasiatic Languages, 409–428. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2003b. A plea for monsters. Linguistics and Philosophy 261. 29–120. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). The perspective-based approach is shown to be unsatisfactory when it comes to treating language-specific data in precise and cross-linguistically comparable terms. It fails to account, for example, for cross-linguistic differences in the behavior of logophoric pronouns, for their optionality, and for their close diachronic relationship to third person elements. Lexical accounts are better equipped to handle a variety of outstanding issues, but they, too, need to be revised to accommodate a variety of discourse phenomena associated with logophoricity, including alternation with first person pronouns. The proposed solution follows the lines of lexical approaches but aims at enriching the pronouns’ lexical representation with notions pertaining to narrative structure, such as the role of Narrator. A separate solution is proposed for treating conventionalized uses occurring outside speech and attitude reports.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The puzzle of logophoricity
    • 1.2Three recent accounts: A contrastive analysis
  • 2.Little-discussed properties of logophoric systems
    • 2.1Logophoric pronouns are not restricted to indirect discourse
    • 2.2Logophoricity comes in varieties
    • 2.3Logophoricity need not involve special pronouns
  • 3.Issues problematic for all three approaches
    • 3.1Logophoric pronouns are not restricted to attitude reports
    • 3.2Logophoric pronouns can refer to the actual speaker
    • 3.3Logophoric pronouns can alternate with first person
  • 4.Proposed tentative solutions
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (52)
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Cited by three other publications

Vandelanotte, Lieven
2023. Constructions of speech and thought representation. WIREs Cognitive Science 14:2 DOI logo
Nikitina, Tatiana & Anna Bugaeva
2021. Logophoric speech is not indirect: towards a syntactic approach to reported speech constructions. Linguistics 59:3 ► pp. 609 ff. DOI logo
Spronck, Stef & Daniela Casartelli
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