Satzmodus-Wiedergabe in der freien indirekten Rede

The paper examines how in German the sentence mode of an original utterance can be reported in indirect speech in the subjunctive. It is demonstrated that two prototypes of indirect speech are to be distinguished: in syntactically independent, or only weakly subordinate, ‘free indirect speech’ with verb-second clause, the sentence mode of the original utterance can be cited in the same form; in contrast, in ‘dependent indirect speech’, the illocutionary potential of the sentence mode must be described in the introductory clause, whereas the subordinate dass-clause is reduced to the propositional act. Only in the imperative mode does the compulsory shift of the listener deixis inhibit, even in free indirect speech, the identical reproduction of sentence mode. These findings show that the ‘proposition principle’ (IDS-grammar) does not apply to all forms of indirect speech, and are consistent with the observation that indirect speech with verb-second sentences implies a literal reproduction (de dicto), i.e. may display other non-propositional elements related to speaker and speech situation. If we are aiming at a grammatical description that highlights important form-function relationships, it seems reasonable to use such pragmatically relevant prototypes instead of making the presence of a speech introduction the primary criterion for the formation of types.