Zero quotatives

Abstract

This study investigates the occurrence of zero quotatives (where direct speech is reported with neither a reporting verb nor an attributed speaker) in the casual conversational speech of American women. In a large number of cases, zero quotative sites in reported discourse can be interpreted on the basis of a simple “next speaker” principle derived from the conventional sequential or turn‐taking structure of two‐party interaction in English. In other cases, paralinguistic modulation of voice quality serves to identify different speaker attributions. In what may be the paradigm case of zero quotative use, however, the direct speech forms are presented, not as reports (or even pseudoreports) of what was said, but as indications of speaker attitude that are echoed by another speaker in a strongly supportive role. Such echoing, typically via paraphrase and parallel structures, appears to function as a means of both linguistic and psychological convergence. The positive role of zero quotatives in such cases is to indicate reciprocally that the interpersonal accommodation of the two speakers at this point is so complete that they speak with a single voice.