Description
The act of telling stories has lately been the focus of many Academic Studies
in Interactional Linguistics (GOFFMAN, 1974; 1981; MANDELBAUM, 1989; 2012;
GOODWIN, 2006; HOLT, 2007; 2009) and, especially, in the area of Conversation
Analysis (SACKS; SCHEGLOFF; JEFFERSON, 1974). Such studies aimed to
investigate how the interactants (re)tell past events, how they organize these reports
and how they build different identities for themselves and for others. The studies also
investigated the way interactants report their and others’ interactional actions.
Reported Speech (henceforth RS), as well as storytelling, has also been the focus of
Interactional-Analytic studies, mostly when it happens in storytelling (LARSON, 1978;
MAYES, 1990; GOLATO, 2000; HOLT, 2009; ROMAINE; LANGE, 2006). The way it
is used and incorporated in storytelling, as well as the way it is constructed, makes
the subject a highly interesting topic of discussion and interest. Accordingly, the
present study originates from the recognition of the important role RS plays in
storytelling, and the interactional and the linguistic interest regarding the roles
interactants play while reporting speech. To contribute to the Brazilian interactional linguistic field, by means of the Conversation Analysis and Multimodal Conversation
Analysis approach (MONDADA, 2009; 2014; 2018; CRUZ et al, 2019), this study
aims to analyze: (1) how RS is introduced; (2) how the interactants implement them
in interaction; (3) how RS is co-constructed by the interactants; and (4) the
importance of embodied actions in the construction of RS in storytelling. The results
indicate that: (a) RS is mainly prefaced by introductory clauses, discourse markers,
the combination of both and, also, by the combination of discourse markers and
markers of sequentiality. The occurrences of zero-quotatives are less frequent in the
data; (b) RS works as an exemplifier of actions done by the own or other interactants
— in a previous or in a hypothetical moment —, to assess an action, to demonstrate
the storytelling sequentiality, to build dialogue and formulations, etc; (c) RS is co constructed through interactants’ formulation attempts regarding the necessity of
collaboration and through repair initiations; and (d) it is used in order to instantiate an
occurrence and/or action that occurred originally.
