22. Peculiar use of Colloquial constructions (Represented Speech)

There are three ways of reproducing actual speech: a) repetition of the exact utterance as it was spoken (direct speech), b) con­version of the exact utterance into the relater'smode of expression (in­direct s pe e с h), arid c) representation of the actual utterance by a second person, usually the author, as if it had been spoken; whereas it has not really been spoken but is only represented in the author's words (represented speech).There is also a device which conveys to the reader the unuttered or inner speech of the character, thus presenting his thoughts and feelings. This device is also termed represented speech. To distinguish between the two varieties of represented speech we call the representation of the actual utterance through the author's language uttered r e p r e -sen-ted speech, and the representation of the thoughts and feelings of the character—unuttered or'inner represented speech. In the belles-lettres style direct speech is used to depict a character through his speech. In the emotive prose of the belles-lettres style where the predominant form of utterance is narrative, direct speech is inserted to more fully de­pict the characters of the novel. In the other variety of the belles-lettres prose style, i.e. in plays, the predominant form of utterance is dialogue. In spite of the various graphical and lexical ways of indicating the proper intonation of a given utterance, the subtleties of the intonation design required by the situation cannot be accurately conveyed. The richness of the human voice can only be suggested. Direct speech can be viewed as a stylistic device only in its setting .s in the midst of the author's narrative or in contrast to all forms of indi­rect speech. Even when, an author addresses the reader, we cannot classify the utterance as direct speech. Direct speech is only the speech of a char­acter in a piece of emotive prose. We have indirect speech when the actual words of a character, as it were, pass through the author's mouth in the course of his narrative and in this process undergo certain changes. The intonation of indirect speech is even and does not differ from the rest of the author's narrative. The graphical substitutes for the intonation give way to lexical units which describe the intonation pattern. Sometimes indirect speech takes the form of a precis in which only the main points of the actual utterance are given. When direct speech is converted into indirect, the author not infre­quently interprets in his own way the manner in which the direct speech was uttered, thus very often changing the emotional colouring of the whole. Hence, indirect speech may fail entirely to reproduce the actual emotional colouring of the direct speech and may distort it unrecogniza­bly. A change of meaning is inevitable when direct speech is turned into indirect or vice versa, inasmuch as any modification of form calls forth a slight difference in meaning.It is probably due to this fact that in order to convey more adequately the actual utterances of characters in emotive prose, a new way to repre­sent direct speech came into being represented speech.Represented speech is that form of utterance which conveys the actual words of the speaker through the mouth of the writer but retains the peculiarities of the speaker's mode of expression.

Represented speech exists in two varieties: 1) uttered represented speech and 2) unuttered or inner represented speech. Uttered represented speech demands that the tense should be switched from present to past and that the personal pronouns should be changed from 1st and 2nd person to 3rd person as in indirect speech, but the syntactical structure of the utterance does not change. Inner represented speech retains the most characteristic features of inner speech. It is also fragmentary, but only to an extent which will not hinder the understanding of the communication. Inner represented speech, unlike uttered represented speech, ex­presses feelings and thoughts of the character which were not materialized in spoken or written language by the character. That is why it abounds in exclamatory words and phrases, elliptical constructions, breaks, and other means of conveying feelings and psychological states. When a person is alone with his thoughts and feelings, he can give vent to those strong emotions which he usually keeps hidden.