Cover not available
Article published In:
Applying Cognitive Linguistics: Figurative language in use, constructions and typology
Edited by Ana M. Piquer-Píriz and Rafael Alejo-González
[Review of Cognitive Linguistics 14:1] 2016
► pp. 209–233

Showing versus telling

Representing speech events in English and Spanish

In this paper I provide a qualitative description of the verbs used to introduce Direct Speech (DS) in fictional narratives written in English and their Spanish translations in order to compare the way these two languages reconstruct speech events in texts by means of both speech verbs (e.g. say/decir, counter/argumentar, declare/manifestar) and non-speech verbs (e.g. grin/sonreír, scowl/fruncir el ceño). Using a corpus of popular fictional narrative genres and drawing upon typological research on motion after the work by Talmy (1985, 1988, 1991) and Slobin (1996a, 1996b, 2004, 2005, 2006). I look into the strategies used in English and Spanish for recreating speech events in order to explore whether the typological differences between these languages are replicated in the case of speech. The hypothesis is that, contrary to what happens with motion events, the differences between English and Spanish do not rest upon lexical availability but, rather, on the weight placed in different speech elements in agreement with two different agendas regarding speech events. While congruent with typological studies, this piece of research attempts to broaden their scope and explore a topic still underexplored.

Keywords: English, typology, speech events, quotative constructions, verb-framed languages, satellite-framed languages, Spanish
Published online: 7 July 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.14.1.09cab
References
Buchstaller, I., & van Alphen, I
(Eds.) (2012) Quotatives: Cross-linguistic and cross-disciplinary perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Caballero, R
(2015) Reconstructing speech events: Comparing English and Spanish. Linguistics, 53(6), 1391–1431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Caldas-Coulthard, C.R.
(1994) On reporting: The representation of speech in factual and factional narratives. In M. Coulthard (Ed.), Advances in written text analysis (pp. 295–308). London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Collins, D.E.
(2001) Reanimated voices: Speech reporting in a historical-pragmatic perspective. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Contreras, H
(1988) Los verbos dialogales en inglés y en castellano. Revista de Lingüística Teorica y Aplicada, 261, 23–27.Google Scholar
Coulmas, F
(Ed.) (1986) Direct and indirect speech. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Roeck, M
(1994) A functional typology of speech reports. In E. Engberg-Pedersen, L. Falster Jakobsen, & L. Schack Rasmussen (Eds.), Function and expression in functional grammar (pp. 331–351). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Dirven, R
(1990) Prototypical uses of grammatical resources in the expression of linguistic action. In S.L. Tsohatzidis (Ed.), Meanings and prototypes: Studies in linguistic categorization (pp. 267–284). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dirven, R., Goossens, L., Putseys, Y., & Vorlat, E
(1982) The scene of linguistic action and its perspectivization by speak, talk, say and tell. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Even-Zohar, I
(2000) The position of translated literature within the literary polysystem. In L. Venuti (Ed.), The translation studies reader (pp. 192–197). New York, N.Y.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Faber, P., & Mairal, R
(1999) Constructing a lexicon of English verbs. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Faber, P., & Sánchez, J
(1990) Semántica de prototipos: El campo semántico de los verbos que expresan la manera de hablar frente al de los verbos de sonido en inglés y español. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada, 61, 19–29.Google Scholar
(2008) Typology in action: Applying insights from typological contrasts. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 18(1), 42–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, A
(1995) Constructions: A construction grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Goossens, L
(1990) Metaphtonymy: The interaction of metaphor and metonymy in expressions for linguistic action. Cognitive Linguistics, 1(3), 323–340. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Güldemann, T
(2008) Quotative indexes in African languages: A synchronic and diachronic survey. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Güldemann, T., & von Roncador, M
(Eds.) (2002) Reported discourse: A meeting ground for different linguistic domains. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holt, E., & Clift, R
(Eds.) (2007) Reporting talk: Reported speech in interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I
(2003) What translation tells us about motion: A contrastive study of typologically different languages. International Journal of English Studies, 3(2), 153–178.Google Scholar
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I., & Filipović, L
(2013) Lexicalisation patterns and translation. In A. Rojo & I. Ibarretxe-Antuñano (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistics and translation: Advances in some theoretical models and applications (pp. 253–283). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kissine, M
(2010) Metaphorical projection, subjectification and English speech act verbs. Folia Linguistica, 44(2), 339–370. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Klamer, M
(2000) How report verbs become quote markers and complementisers. Lingua, 1101, 69–98. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lehrer, A
(1988) Checklist for verbs of speaking. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 38(1-4), 143–161.Google Scholar
Levin, B
(1993) English verb classes and alternations. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lucy, J.A.
(Ed.) (1993) Reflexive language: Reported speech and metapragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maldonado, C
(1991) Discurso directo y discurso indirecto. Madrid: Taurus universitaria.Google Scholar
Martínez Vázquez, M
(2005) Communicative constructions in English and Spanish. In C. Butler, M.A. Gómez González, & S. Doval-Suárez (Eds.), The dynamics of language use (pp. 79–109). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mastrofini, R
(2013) English manner of speaking verbs and their Italian translations: A cross-linguistic comparison. ATINER’S Conference Paper Series . [URL] (accessed 11 March 2014).
Rojo, A., & Valenzuela, J
(2001) How to say things with words: Ways of saying in English and Spanish. META, 46(3), 467–477. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rudzka-Ostyn, B
(1988) Semantic extensions into the domain of verbal communication. In B. Rudzka-Ostyn (Ed.), Topics in cognitive linguistics (pp. 507–553). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Slobin, D
(1996a) From ‘thought and language’ to ‘thinking for speaking’. In J. Gumperz & S. Levinson (Eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity (pp. 70–96). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(1996b) Two ways to travel: Verbs of motion in English and Spanish. In M. Shibatani & S.A. Thompson (Eds.), Grammatical constructions: Their form and meaning (pp. 195–220). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
(2004) The many ways to search for a frog. Linguistic typology and the expression of motion events. In S. Strömqvist & L. Verhoeven (Eds.) Relating events in narrative: Typological and contextual perspectives (pp. 219–257). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
(2005) Relating narrative events in translation. In D. Ravid & H. Shyldkrot (Eds.), Perspectives on language and language development: Essays in honor of Ruth A. Berman (pp. 115–130). Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Slobin, D.I.
(2006) What makes manner of motion salient? Explorations in linguistic typology, discourse, and cognition. In M. Hickmann & S. Robert (Eds.), Space in languages: Linguistic systems and cognitive categories (pp. 59–81). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Snell-Hornby, M
(1983) Verb-descriptivity in German and English: A contrastive study in semantic fields. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Suñer, M
(2000) The syntax of direct quotes with special reference to Spanish and English. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 181, 527–578.Google Scholar
Talmy, L
(1985) Lexicalization patterns: Semantic structure in lexical forms. In T. Shopen (Ed.), Language typology and lexical descriptions. Vol. 3: Grammatical categories and the lexicon (pp. 36–149). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(1988) Force dynamics in language and cognition. Cognitive Science, 121, 49–100. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1991) Paths to realization: A typology of event conflation. Proceedings of the Berkeley Linguistics Society , 171, 480–519.
Thompson, G
(1996) Voices in the text: Discourse perspectives on language reports. Applied Linguistics, 171, 501–530. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Urban, M., & Ruppenhofer, J
(2001) Shouting and screaming: Manner and noise verbs in communication. Literary and Linguistic Computing, 16(1), 73–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verschueren, J
(Ed.) (1987) Linguistic action: Some empirical-conceptual studies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Ware, J
(1993) Quote formulae in The Final Diagnosis . Journal of Translation and Text Linguistics, 6(2), 161–178.Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, A
(1987) English speech act verbs: A semantic dictionary. Sydney: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Zwicky, A.M.
(1971) In a manner of speaking. Linguistic Inquiry, 21, 223–232.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

CABALLERO, ROSARIO & CARITA PARADIS
2020. Soundscapes in English and Spanish: a corpus investigation of verb constructions. Language and Cognition 12:4 ► pp. 705 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.