On the processing of Free Indirect Discourse
First results and methodological challenges
In this contribution we report on the results from two psycholinguistic experiments investigating the processing of Free Indirect Discourse (FID). We conceive of FID as a linguistic means that cues comprehenders to take over the perspective of a protagonist in third-person narrations. Using both on-line and off-line measures, we tested the hypothesis that the referent of the protagonist receives a higher activation status during reading if his or her thoughts are related through FID. The FID cues we used were questions and discourse particles. In addition, we compared different inferential statistic procedures in the analysis of the results. Although the cues that were employed as FID markers in the experimental materials had an influence on the perception of narrative perspective, no indication was found for the hypothesis that narrative perspective mediated through FID influences the salience of the protagonist during reading. We discuss the implications of this null result and point to some more general methodological problems arising in the investigation of processing of literary text.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Theoretical background
- 3.Experimental evidence
- 3.1Materials
- 3.2Pilot 1: Off-line questionnaire study
- 3.3Pilot 2: Expert rating
- 3.4Experiment 1: Self-paced reading
- 3.4.1Experiment 1: Procedure
- 3.4.2Experiment 1: Design and predictions
- 3.4.3Experiment 1: Results
- Data treatment
- Proportion of correct answers
- Reading Times per Word in Target Sentence
- Response latencies
- 3.4.4Experiment 1: Discussion
- 3.5Experiment 2: Self-paced reading and memory test
- 3.5.1Materials
- 3.5.2Procedure
- 3.5.3Participants
- 3.5.4Experiment 2: Design and predictions
- 3.5.5Experiment 2: Results
- Data treatment
- Proportion of correct answers
- Reading times per word in target sentence
- Response latencies
- Memory test
- 3.5.6Experiment 2: Discussion
- 4.General discussion
-
Acknowledgements
-
Note
-
References
References (34)
References
Ariel, M. 2001. Accessibility theory: An overview. In Text Representation: Linguistic and Psycholinguistic Aspects [Human Cognitive Processing 8], T. Sanders, J. Schilperoord, & W. Spooren (eds), 29–87. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Asher, N. & Lascarides, A. 2003. Logics of Conversation. Cambridge: CUP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Banfield, A. 1973. Narrative style and the grammar of direct and indirect speech. Foundations of Language 10(1): 1–39.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Banfield, A. 1982. Unspeakable Sentences. Boston MA: Routledge and Kegan Paul.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Barr, D. 2008. Analyzing ‘visual world’ eyetracking data using multilevel logistic regression. Journal of Memory and Language 59(4): 457–474.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Barr, D. J., Levy, R., Scheepers, C. & Tily, H. J. 2013. Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language 68(3): 255–278.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bortolussi, M. & Dixon, P. 2003. Psychonarratology: Foundations for the Empirical Study of Literary Response. Cambridge: CUP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bransford, J. D., Barclay, J. R. & Franks, J. J. 1972. Sentence memory: A constructive versus interpretive approach. Cognitive Psychology 3(2): 193–209.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bray, J. 2007. The ‘dual voice’ of free indirect discourse: A reading experiment. Language and Literature 16(1): 37–52.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Clark, H. H. 1973. The language-as-fixed-effect fallacy: A critique of language statistics in psychological research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 12(4): 335–359.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eckardt, R. 2014. The Semantics of free indirect discourse. How Texts Allow to Mindread and Eavesdrop. Leiden: Brill.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fludernik, M. 1993. The Fictions of Language and the Languages of Fiction. Oxford: Taylor & Francis.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Garnham, A. 1981. Mental models as representations of text. Memory & Cognition 9(6): 560–565.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Genette, G. 1994. Die Erzählung. Stuttgart: UTB.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gundel, J. K., Hedberg, N. & Zacharski, R. 1993. Cognitive status and the form of referring expressions in discourse. Language 69(2): 274–307.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Harris, J. A. 2012. Processing Perspectives. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Harris, J. A. 2014. Shifting Viewpoints and Discourse Economy. Poster presented at the 27th annual CUNY conference on human sentence processing, Ohio State University, USA.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hegarty, M. & Waller, D. 2004. A dissociation between mental rotation and perspective-taking spatial abilities. Intelligence 32(2): 175–191.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hewitt, L. 1995. Anaphor in subjective contexts in narrative fiction. In Deixis in Narrative: A Cognitive Science Perspective, G. B. J. F. Duchan & L. Hewitt (eds), 325–339. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Holler, A. & Irmen, L. 2007. Empirically assessing the effects of the right frontier constraint. In Anaphora: Analysis, Algorithms and Applications. DAARC 2007. LNAI-Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, A. Branco (ed.), 15–27. Berlin: Springer.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jaeger, T. F. 2008. Categorical data analysis: Away from anovas (transformation or not) and towards logit mixed models. Journal of Memory and Language 59(4): 434–446.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kaiser, E. & Cohen, A. 2012. Free indirect discourse and perspective-taking. Poster presented at the annual conference Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP), Riva del Garda, Italy. https://dl.[URL]
Kintsch, W. 1998. Comprehension: A paradigm for cognition. Cambridge, MA: CUP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
László, J. 1986. Same story with different point of view. SPIEL 5: 1–22.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Long, D. L. 1994. The effects of pragmatics and discourse style on recognition memory for sentences. Discourse Processes 17(2): 213–234.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maier, E. 2012. Switches between direct and indirect speech in ancient Greek. Journal of Greek Linguistics 12(1): 118–139.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maier, E. 2014. Mixed quotation: The grammar of apparently transparent opacity. Semantics and Pragmatics 7: 1–67.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nieuwenhuis, R., Pelzer, B. & te Grotenhuis, M. 2012. influence.me. Tools for Detecting Influential Data in Mixed Effects Models. Version 0.9.2.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sanford, A. J., Moar, K. & Garrod, S. C. 1988. Proper names as controllers of discourse focus. Language and Speech 31(1): 43–56.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schlenker, P. 2004. Context of thought and context of utterance: A note on free indirect discourse and the historical present. Mind & Language 19(3): 279–304.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sharvit, Y. 2008. The puzzle of free indirect discourse. Linguistics and Philosophy 31(3): 353–395.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Simmons, J. P., Nelson, L. D. & Simonsohn, U. 2011. False-positive psychology: Undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant. Psychological Science 22(11): 1359–1366.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yao, B. & Scheepers, C. 2011. Contextual modulation of reading rate for direct versus indirect speech quotations. Cognition 121(3): 447–453.![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Harris, Jesse A.
2021.
Extended Perspective Shift and Discourse Economy in Language Processing.
Frontiers in Psychology 12
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Bimpikou, Sofia
2020.
Who Perceives? Who Thinks? Anchoring Free Reports of Perception and Thought in Narratives.
Open Library of Humanities 6:2
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Holler, Anke
2019.
Alles eine Frage der Perspektive – Zur sogenannten erlebten Rede im narrativen Text.
Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik 47:1
► pp. 28 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.