Reported speech in Bezhta

The paper explores reported speech in Bezhta (< Nakh-Daghestanian). Bezhta reported speech typically consists of 1) a framing clause involving a verb of speech and 2) a quotation clause followed by a quotative particle. Other reporting strategies include presenting the reported speech either by simply juxtaposing the framing clause and the utterance being reported, i.e. without any quotative enclitic, or by attaching the quotative enclitic to the final element in the quotation clause, i.e. without the framing clause. A nominalization strategy can also be used. Bezhta allows indexical shift, which means that depending on context, an embedded indexical (e.g. the first-person pronoun) can receive either an ‘unshifted reading’, where it is interpreted from the perspective of the speaker of the utterance, or a ‘shifted reading’, where it is interpreted from the perspective of the original speaker. The shifted reading is available only in finite complementation. The use of embedded reflexive pronouns makes the ‘shifted reading’ obligatory. Syntactically the reported speech construction differs from other types of complex sentence in Bezhta (featuring complementation, relativization or adverbial clauses), as reporting involves a finite embedded clause, whereas Bezhta subordinate clauses are mainly identified by the presence of a non-finite verb form as head of the construction. The reported speech construction is definitely distinct from one featuring a regular complement clause, as the former can involve finite verbs in the quotation clause, and reporting can be presented without any framing matrix verb but with the quotative enclitic only. The paper examines the synchronic functions and the grammaticalization source of the quotative enclitic.