This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Wales, K. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Unnatural conversations in unnatural conversations: speech reporting in the discourse of spiritual mediumship

University of Nottingham, katie.wales{at}nottingham.ac.uk

Despite the popular attraction of spiritualism in contemporary society, the discourse of spiritual mediumship has attracted little attention from linguists or stylisticians. One of the practical reasons for this is probably the lack of material in the public domain. On the basis of a recording of a whole session between a professional medium and her client, this article looks at the reporting strategies used by the medium to convey alleged messages from those who have Passed Over: messages which are central to the claims of spiritualism and hence to the authority of the medium. It will be argued that the common accepted formalist terminology of speech representation is inadequate, failing to do justice to the blended spaces of this world and that Beyond and to the medium’s role as ‘intermediary’. Four types are illustrated (interpreted, relayed, dictated and unmediated speech). The methodology proposed might offer a useful approach to the complexities of speech presentation even in This World.

Key Words: blending • discourse worlds • mediums • speech reporting • spiritualism • textworld theory

Language and Literature, Vol. 18, No. 4, 347-356 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0963947009343844


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?