Reported speech in English: Form and function in a testimonial setting

Recontextualization (a concept derived from Voloshinov and Bakhtin), the process whereby an utterance from one situation of speaking is refitted to another context as a report of speech, is explored in a study of the form and function of reported speech in the Watergate Hearings testimony of Mr. John Dean. All direct and indirect reports of speech (direct discourse and indirect discourse) from Mr. Dean\u27s written testimonial report and oral interactive testimonial discourse are analyzed quantitatively, stylistically, and functionally. Reports of speech with the matrix verbs TELL, ASK, and SAY are the foci of stylistc analyses, which suggest an association of genre with predominance of direct or indirect report and an association of cited report participant authority relations with matrix verb of report. Patterns of reported speech representation in written report and oral discourse are investigated. Reported speech pairs, triples, continuations, and elaborations are described in an analysis of text (monologic context) and discourse (dialogic context). The representational functions of reported speech forms are analyzed; and rhetorical and pragmatic functions of reported speech in the testimonial setting of the Watergate Hearings are proposed. The proportional occurrence of direct to indirect report (30 to 40 percent direct to 70 to 60 percent indirect) in the witness\u27s speech in the oral testimonial discourse is associated with perceived speaker credibility, a situation-specific goal. In the examiners\u27 speech in the oral testimonial discourse, reported speech occurs in exact words queries and challenges and in meaning congruity queries. Examiners\u27 speech is also frequently concerned with the elicitation of the details of a past situation of speaking, constructing thereby a model of, for instance, a meeting, and testing a witness\u27s account of past speech event