Les verbes de parole comme caractérisants de l’énonciation originaire dans le rapport des dires

Abstract

In the complex process of reporting, speech act verbs stand for important linguistic means used by the speaker in order to render the original message. These verbs, prototypically represented by the neutral say, translate the reporting speaker’s perception of the original discourse situation, the relation between the
speaker and the hearer, and the illocutionary force of the original sentence (Authier & Meunier, 1977: 64). According to Fairclough (1995: 60), the choice of the reporting verbs reveals the speaker’s attempt to influence the interpretation of the original sentence making the object of the reporting process. This paper
aims at analysing speech act verbs as meta-discourse comments which refer to the accomplishment of the original speech act and orient its interpretation in the host discourse.