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International
Journal of English Literature and Culture |
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International Journal of English Literature and Culture Vol. 2(4), pp. 48 –54, April, 2014 ISSN: 2360-7831 DOI: 10.14662/IJELC2014.015 Review The Body of Anecdotes, the Case of Reported Speech
Sakina M. Alaoui
Department of English Language and Literature, Sultan Qaboos University. E-mail: sakina@squ.edu.om
Accepted 21 April 2014
The present paper takes a compilation of
stories taken from chat shows and analyses their body, i.e. the
medial section which is subsequent to the orientation section and
preceding the coda. It argues that anecdotes in chat shows rely
heavily on reported speech. In fact, reported speech frequently
forms the entire body of anecdotes. My findings disclose features
inherent in the body of anecdotes, namely that reported speech is
always animated and involves role-playing, simulating a character or
more. It is recurrently introduced with a reporting verb such as
“say” or the more informal verb “go”. In some cases, a reporting
verb is not used at all, in which case the story tellers depend
solely on “making voices”.
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