Voice and expressivity in free indirect thought representations : imitation and representation

Blakemore, DL

Abstract

This paper addresses issues in the philosophy of fiction from the perspective of a relevance theoretic approach to communication. Its departure point is the assumption found in both pretence approaches to irony (e.g. Currie 2002, 2006, 2010, Recanati 2000, 2004, 2007, Walton 1990) and Sperber & Wilson’s (1995, 2006, 2011) echoic approach that free indirect discourse and irony should be treated in parallel. Drawing on examples (mainly) from Mansfield’s short stories, It then addresses the question of how we should account for the role of so-called ‘expressives’ in free indirect style and argues that while authors may use them in the imitation of a character’s style or ‘voice’ (especially for the purpose of parody), they may also use them as a means of encouraging readers to construct their own meta-representations of a character’s state of mind. Finally, it addresses the question of what the narrator’s/author’s role is in creating these effects, and argues that the function of a ‘speaking’ narrator must be de-coupled from that of an organizing, selecting narrator (the communicator). Although this distinction can be explained in relevance theoretic terms, it implies that free indirect thought representations must be distinguished from irony and parody, where the relevance of the utterance lies in the audience’s interpretation of the communicator’s thoughts.



Key terms

expressive
irony
free indirect discourse/thought
imitation
(meta-)representation
narrative/narrator
parody
pretence
principle of relevance
voice

Citation

Blakemore, D. (2013). Voice and expressivity in free indirect thought representations : imitation and representation. Mind and Language, 28(5), 579-605. https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12035

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Oct 31, 2013
• Publication Date: Oct 31, 2013
• Deposit Date: Sep 26, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 22, 2017
• Journal: Mind and Language
• Print ISSN: 0268-1064
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 579-605
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12035
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mila.12035