Solega defenestration: Underspecified perspective shift in an unwritten Dravidian language

Based on original fieldwork, this paper discusses reported speech and thought constructions in Solega (Dravidian). Following McGregor (1994) we claim that reported speech can only be comprehensively characterised if it is identified as a syntactic construction in its own right, a construction we label a framing or ‘frame-in’ construction. In natural discourse, elements of the frame-in construction, particularly clauses referring to the reporting event, may be left unexpressed. We highlight parallels between this process and the phenomenon of headless subordinate clauses, or ‘insubordination’, and term frame-in constructions without a matrix clause ‘defenestrated clauses’. While defenestrated clauses in Solega leave perspective shifts underspecified, they include several distinctive strategies that allow us to reconsider the role of morpho-syntactic marking in the expression of perspective shifts.

Jaar van publicatie:2019