Citrunas atspoguļojums valodā: sintaktiskais un pragmatiskais aspekts
Syntactic and pragmatic aspects of reported speech

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to different types of realisation of reported speech from the point of view of syntax, pragmatics and discourse structure. Several types of reported speech are analysed with regard to punctuation, as well as implicit meanings revealing the author’s point of view and ways of interpreting the original information. The first part comprises analysis of different sub-types of reported speech according to the syntactic structure of both reported speech and the author’s text, as well as use of punctuation marks and word order. The above-mentioned features are linked to pragmatic functions and pragmatic purpose of reported speech. The second part deals with a special grammatical means of expressing reported evidentiality in Latvian – the so-called relative mood or oblique forms of the verb. It is argued that their basic function is reportive, which is present in all contexts, whereas epistemic overtones depend on special types of distribution. Special attention is paid to the fact that the use of oblique forms without epistemic connotations is not pragmatically neutral either, whereas it serves as expression of “epistemic agnosticism” mitigating the journalist’s responsibility for the reported statements, but simultaneously moving the audience towards a certain stance.

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