Discours rapporté(s): Approche(s) linguistique(s) et/ou traductologique(s) (review)

This volume is the result of a conference held in Arras in 2004. There are ten papers plus an editor's preface, although it is unclear whether these are a selection. Of the ten, eight are concerned with reported speech or discours rapporté (DR) using a French–English contrastive approach, mostly using as sources texts like novels and press articles. The remaining chapter focuses on DR in Chinese. The first in the volume, by Laurence Rosier, offers a general perspective on DR in relation to polyphonie and transposition. Monique De Matia-Viviès focuses on what she terms the porosity between form and sense in the various types of DR used in literary narrative. Delesse looks at English structures of the 'X is said/reported to be . . .', considering whether this can be classed as DR or as an epistemic mode conveying the author's attitude. Rudy Loock considers constructions having the resplendent title les propositions relatives appositives. Even one example of apposition through a relative, such as 'I'm reading Lolita, which John said he liked', shows its complexity (one tends to think of apposition of subjects) and Loock has a thorough treatment, focusing as well on their accurate rendering into French. Bertrand Richet's chapter is entitled 'Mots du discours et discours rapporté: le partage des sens'. By 'discourse words' is meant here interjections;Richet considers their use in conveying English dialogue and how they can best translate. Brigitte Pezant's brief chapter looks at regional variation in the use of the verb 'say' and its synonyms to introduce DR. One curious outcome is that South African English dispenses more readily with a complementiser after these verbs than other varieties. Bruno Poncharal also examines 'say', often described as a neutral reporting verb, in contrast with its French translation where 'commentary' seems often to be preferred to mere description. Sylvine Muller's chapter is concerned with verbs like 'say' too, also looking at French translations and making the point, among others, that French translators tend to carry over the deeply instilled tendency to avoid repetition. Raluca Nita considers the advantage of compact expression that French has in verbs like 'ironiser' and how this is conveyed into English and also Romanian. This work has a tighter thematic unity than many collections, reflecting the initial conference organization. At the same time the net is cast widely, understandably given that DR takes several forms. Despite its substantial contrastive element and wealth of instructive examples, the volume will be of interest to theorists rather than teachers of translation.