Quoting Dialogue in Oral Narratives: Folktale Data from the Narada Dialect of Japanese

Abstract

This paper examines how characters' interpersonal and internal dialogues are expressed in oral narratives using audio recordings of folktales from the Narada dialect of Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan. The study focuses on how characters' speech within these narratives are quoted. An analysis of the source material reveals that most quoted speech by characters within the narratives is introduced by quotative adverbial phrases using a quotative marker. Furthermore, the Narada dialect employs different quotative markers depending on whether the quoted material represents speech or thought. The quotation clauses for speech utilize the Narada dialect's interjections and sentence-final particles to convey a sense of authentic, everyday conversation. Conversely, the use of personal pronouns unspecific to the Narada dialect signals the quoted speaker's alterity within narratives. Regarding the practice of quoting speech in spoken language in general, the paper argues that realistic dialogue is not necessarily a faithful reproduction of the original utterance. It also points out that the starting position of a quotation is not always identifiable solely by the post-positioning of the quotation marker as a grammatical device.