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 Ling 131: Language & Style		  
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 Topic 9 (session A) - Speech Presentation > More extended analyses > Task A
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Session Overview
What happens when speech is presented
Varieties of speech presentation in the novel
More extended analyses
Thought presentation
Speech presentation Checksheet
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Speech presentation scale

More extended analyses

Task A - Elizabeth Adler, Peach

The passage below is from a popular romance novel. Lais and Peach are two sisters who are alone on a cruise ship together, travelling from America to France. Peach is five years old. Lais, who is in her late teens, is meant to be looking after her. But she is more interested in having a good time dancing in the ballroom of the ship, and so is hastily putting Peach to bed in their cabin, before going back to the ballroom.

Using your Speech Presentation checksheet, for each sentence, or part of a sentence, note down the mode of speech presentation you think is used. The speech presentation modes you are looking for are DS, FIS, IS, NRSA and NV. (Note that you may find more than one category in some sentences.) Some sentences do not involve speech presentation at all, and you may find it helpful to label these with 'N' for Narration.

You can compare your analyses with ours using the button at the end of the passage.

Lais unlocked the cabin door and pushed her inside. 'Come on then, into bed with you.' She pulled off Peach's pretty white dress hurriedly.
Peach sat on the edge of her bed sliding off the little red slippers. 'What about my teeth?' she asked, thinking of her mother.
'In the morning,' called Lais, already at the door.
'But Lais. Where are you going?' Peach sat up in bed anxiously. She still wore her vest and knickers and her socks. There was no sign of her nightie, or a drink of milk or anything. And where was Teddy?
Lais hesitated then hurried back across the room and hauled the teddy bear from beneath a pile of clothes. 'There,' she said. 'Now go to sleep.'

(Elizabeth Adler , Peach)

Our analysis

Now note down why you think the author has made the choices he or she has decided upon - i.e. assess what effect(s) those choices have on you, the reader (e.g. in terms of manipulating your sympathies). Then compare your thoughts with ours.

Our commentary:

The speech presentation in the passage is almost all in DS. There are virtually no attempts to use the modulating effects of variation in modes of speech presentation. This makes the presentation of the speech seem simple and straightforward, and helps to bring out the perfunctory way in which Lais is 'looking after' her younger sister (which is also seen in what she does, or rather does not do - she does not let Peach brush her teeth, does not give her a drink and does not find her nightie for her).

brown teddyThe one exception to the DS 'rule' in the passage is the use of FIS for Peach's question about the whereabouts of her teddy, something which is clearly important for her. The distancing effect produced by the FIS form is presumably to help us see that Lais is not much interested in the question. But this 'local' strategy seems strangely at odds with the fact that elsewhere in the passage we are allowed to see inside the mind of the Peach, the five-year old. Indeed, until we read Lais's response at the end of the extract, we could be forgiven for thinking that 'And where was Teddy?' is a question that Peach asks silently to herself, rather than something which she says out loud. This speech/thought ambiguity does not seem to be for any useful purpose in the passage either. So, it looks as if this writer might not be quite in control of the discourse presentational forms she is using.

Note how our discussion of this passage has involved us a little in exploring the presentation of character thoughts as well as speech. This is something we will explore a bit more in the Thought presentation page, the last page of this overall topic.

 

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