Polyphony and the ‘layering of voices’ in reported dialogues: An analysis of the use of prosodic devices in everyday reported speech

Abstract

In this paper I shall analyze the prosodic and voice quality techniques which speakers use in reported dialogues to contextualize their point of view towards the reconstructed utterances. The analysis is based on data of informal German conversations (dinner table conversations, coffee-break chats and telephone interactions) among friends and family members. Methods of interpretative sociolinguistics (Gumperz, 1982), conversation analysis and interactional analysis of prosody (Couper-Kuhlen and Selting, 1996) are used to investigate the devices which speakers use in order to evaluate the reconstructed utterances. It will be argued that speakers not only (re)construct past dialogues but that often in this process of ‘de- and recontextualization’ simultaneously communicate their evaluative perspective on the quoted utterances. The analysis will focus on the following questions: How do speakers communicate their point of view to the reported dialogues? Which prosodic means and devices of speech quality are used to communicate the speaker's perspective towards the quoted utterance as concordant or discordant? I shall argue that participants in everyday interactions also use poetic devices and polyphonic strategies described by Bakhtin (1981) as ‘layering of voices’. In contrast to literary texts, ‘polyphonic layering of voices’ in everyday reported dialogues is mainly achieved by means of prosody (Günthner, 1993).