Reported speech in medieval German narratives

Reported speech in medieval German narratives Reported speech is, or purports to be, direct speech reported in narrative. According to more detailed definitions, it subordinates the original words, the direct speech, as a noun clause dependent on a main clause (the reporting clause); first- and second-person references are likely to be changed to third person, and verbs may be changed to a tense further in the past (in English) or from the indicative to the subjunctive mood (in German). Thus "I am coming on Sunday" becomes "She said she was coming on Sunday", "Sie sagte, daB sie am Sonntag komme / kame / kommen wurde".l Grammarians and other writers on reported speech recognize, however, that it often does not fit that precise grammatical description, but paraphrases or summarizes; to quote Dieter Strauss, it "rafft. die Aussage...auf ihre Kernsatze, auf die Resultate der ursprilnglichen Rede" - it presents only the key sentences or the results of the original speech.2 One common tendency is for the content to be summarized in a clause, phrase or word: "She told him why she had come", "She told him the story of her life", "She told him the news". Another is for the reporting verb to take over some or all of the content: "She lamented her loss", "They discussed the battle", "She refused". Clearly any one direct speech can be reported in a number of different ways (with differing amounts of detail, for instance). But Strauss, who is dealing with medieval narratives, misses the mark when he writes of an "ursprlinglichen Rede" (an original speech), as though the medieval story-teller were in fact merely reporting.3 In fiction, reported speech is one of the forms available to an author; he adopts it, not because a real conversation has occurred, which he is obliged to report, but because he chooses this form at a particular point to achieve a 1 See, e.g., R. Quirk et al., A Grammar of Contemporary English, London, 1972, 785-9; Duden Grammatik der deutschen Gegenwartssprache, 4th ed., ed. G. Drosdowski, Mannheim, 1984, 16473 . 2 D. Strauss, Redegattungen und Redearten im Rolandslied..., Goppingen, 1972, 44; cf. R. Quirk and S. Greenbaum, A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English, New York, 1973: "indirect report frequently involves paraphrase or summary of the speech or thought it represents" (342). 3 Similarly P. Wiehl, writing of Hartmann and Chretien, describes reported speech as the "Wiedergabe einer ursprtlnglich direkten Personenrede..." (Die Redeszene als episches Strukturelement in den Erec- und Iwein—Dichtungen Hartmanns von Aue und Chrestiens de Troyes, Munich, 1974, 60). 104 J. Emberson particular purpose. Of course the primary purpose of reported speech in fiction is to suggest direct speech, in greater or less detail. My main interest here, however, is in exploring some of the other purposes it may serve. My examples will be drawn from Hartmann's Iwein and Erec, Wolfram's Willehalm, Parzival and Titurel, Veldeke's Eneide, Gottfried's Tristan, and the Nibelungenlied.4 Most of those are based on French originals, and may be influenced by them in their use of reported speech at particular points; but the fact that some speeches are changed, omitted or added in the German versions shows that even the more faithful translators are still exercising choice. To what extent they coincide with, or differ from, the French and other medieval poets in the effects they achieve with reported speech would be a matter for further research. It was indicated above that reported speech is not all alike. I think it useful to distinguish three levels: SHIFTED SPEECH: verb of speaking + subordinate noun clause. CONDENSED SPEECH: verb of speaking + gist of speech; less suggestion of specific sentences. SUBMERGED SPEECH: essence of a communication; no verb of speaking.5 SHIFTED SPEECH Shifted speech corresponds to the narrower definition of reported speech given in the opening paragraph of this paper, and it strongly suggests one particular wording for the supposed original direct speech. Grammarians and others allow the reporting verb to be one of thinking: "She said it would be nice if he came" and "She thought it would be nice if he came" have the same structure.6 Shifted speech may represent statements, exclamations...