The spectrum of perspective shift: protagonist projection versus free indirect discourse

Abstract

This paper examines a little studied type of perspective shift that I call protagonist projection (PP), following Holton (J Pragmat 28(5):625–628, 1997). (Other names for what is arguably the same phenomenon include non-reflective conscioussness, represented perception, viewpoint shift, etc.) PP is a way of describing the mental state of a protagonist that conveys, to some extent, her perspective. Similarly to its better known cousin free indirect discourse (FID), the shift in perspective is achieved without an overt operator. Unlike FID, PP is not based on a presumed (possibly silent) speech-act of a protagonist. Rather, it gives a linguistic form to pre-verbal perceptual content, sensations, feelings or implicit beliefs. I propose to analyse PP in a bi-contextual framework, extending Eckardt’s (The semantics of free indirect discourse: How texts allow us tomind-read and eavesdrop, Brill, Leiden, 2014) approach to FID. Under the resulting analysis, FID and PP are two instances of a more general category of perspective shift.