Reported speech constructions in Chuvash: A corpus- and elicitation-based study

The paper is a descriptive survey of reported speech constructions in standard and Maloe Karachkino (Poshkart) Chuvash based on a typological questionnaire. On the basis of corpus data, it is shown that reported speech constructions vary depending on whether reported speech is introduced by a complementizer-like element in combination with an ordinary speech verb; directly by the grammaticalized/semi-lexical verb ‘say’; by a lexical verb without the complementizer in a paratactic structure; by a lexical verb in combination with a “resumptive/quotative” use of the verb ‘say’ (in a finite form). Perspectival properties, related to the interpretation of indexical elements within reported speech (from the point of view of the current vs. reported speech situation), are examined based on elicited data. The data show that, unlike European languages with a clear-cut distinction between direct and indirect speech, the choice of perspective in Chuvash is not correlated with the type of construction (at least for major morphosyntactic types) but is an independent property of speech reports. Yet, there is also evidence for an underlying direct vs. indirect distinction from the ban on mixing of perspectives within the same reported speech. Further interesting features are discussed, including differences between ‘say’ and ordinary speech verbs, the status of the ‘say’-based complementizer, and a special logophoric-like construction.