36 Reporting Verbs and Direct Quotes
He said, “I’ll go.”
He told me, “I’ll go.”
He asked me, “Will I go?”
In each case, the person who uses any of these sentences is reporting on what someone else said. Each of these sentences has a main verb of saying (‘said,’ ‘told,’ or ‘asked’), which we will call the reporting verb. Each also has another verb in a separate clause (‘go’).
We call these clauses with the verbs of saying reporting clauses. Reporting clauses are very common and important in fluent conversation and storytelling. Just imagine trying to tell someone what happened yesterday without talking about what someone else said. Reporting clauses are just as common and important in Klallam as they are in English.
There are two types of reporting sentences: direct quotes and indirect quotes. In this section we describe how to do direct quotes in Klallam. In §37 we will cover indirect quotes.
| qʷáy cn, “hiyáʔ či.” | ‘I spoke, “Go!”’ |
| nəsuʔqʷáy, “hiyáʔ či.” | ‘So I spoke, “Go!”’ |
| níɬ nəsuʔqʷáy, “hiyáʔ či.” | ‘So then I spoke, “Go!”’ |
| ʔáx̣əŋ cn, “hiyáʔ či.” | ‘I said, “Go!”’ |
| x̣ə́nəŋ cn, “hiyáʔ či.” | ‘I said, “Go!”’ |
| x̣ənʔáxʷ cn, “hiyáʔ či.” | ‘I said to him, “Go!”’ |
| sát cn, “hiyáʔ či.” | ‘I told him, “Go!”’ |
| yəcúst cn, “hiyáʔ či.” | ‘I told him, “Go!”’ |
| čtát cn, “hiyáʔ u cxʷ.” | ‘I asked him, “Did you go?”’ |
► 1 The models illustrate direct quotes where the reporting clause introduces speech that is a direct copy of what someone has said.
► 2 In each of the models, the reporting clause comes before the quote. In Klallam, just as in English, the reporting clause can come before or after the quote. So each of the following is good Klallam, too:
“hiyáʔ či,” qʷáy cn. ‘“Go!” I spoke. ’
“hiyáʔ či,” ʔáx̣əŋ cn. ‘“Go!” I said.’
“hiyáʔ či,” x̣ə́nəŋ cn. ‘“Go!” I said.’
“hiyáʔ či,” x̣ənʔáxʷ cn. ‘“Go!” I said to him.’
“hiyáʔ či,” sát cn. ‘“Go!” I told him.’
“hiyáʔ či,” yəcúst cn. ‘“Go!” I told him.’
“hiyáʔ u,” čtát cn. ‘“Did they go?” I asked him.’
► 3 It must be pointed out that although the reporting clause may come after the quote, usually it comes before, as in the models.
► 4 One way that Klallam is different from English is that in Klallam you can never break up a quoted sentence with a reporting clause. In English (usually literary style), for example, you can say things like ‘“Did you,” I asked him, “go?”’ where the reporting clause comes right in the middle of the quote. You cannot do this kind of thing in proper Klallam.
► 5 The models illustrate the seven main Klallam reporting verbs: qʷáy ‘speak,’ ʔáx̣əŋ ‘say,’ x̣ə́nəŋ ‘say,’ x̣ənʔáxʷ ‘say to him/her,’ sát ‘tell him/her to do (something),’ yəcúst ‘tell him/her,’ and čtát ‘ask him/her.’
► 6 Each of these seven verbs needs special comments. First is qʷáy, the most common of all of these. This means ‘speak, talk’ and is the root in sqʷáy ‘word, sentence, language.’ When used as a reporting verb, it is most often translated as English ‘say.’
► 7 The next two, ʔáx̣əŋ and x̣ə́nəŋ, both mean ‘say’ or ‘do.’ As reporting verbs with direct quotes, they can be used interchangeably, though some elders feel there is a subtle difference between them. The difference can be seen in this pair:
ʔáx̣əŋ cn. ‘I said’ or ‘I did.’
x̣ə́nəŋ cn. ‘I said so’ or ‘I did so.’
And in this pair where each has the txʷ‑ prefix (note that the xʷ of the prefix drops before the x̣):
txʷʔáx̣əŋ̓ cn. ‘I go toward (something).’
tx̣ə́nəŋ cn. ‘I go via (some way).’
► 8 One clear grammatical difference between ʔáx̣əŋ and x̣ə́nəŋ is that, while both can be used with direct quotes, only ʔáx̣əŋ may be used with indirect quotes. As a reporting verb, x̣ə́nəŋ may be used only with direct quotes. The next section, §37, comes back to this point.
► 9 The verb x̣ənʔáxʷ is a really unusual one in Klallam. It is the only transitive verb in Klallam without one of the transitivizing suffixes such as ‑t or ‑nəxʷ (see §7). The ‑t suffix does appear when one of the object or passive suffixes follows. In those cases, the final ‑xʷ drops off. Here is the complete paradigm for x̣ənʔáxʷ :
x̣ənʔác cxʷ. ‘You said to me.’
x̣ənʔác cxʷ hay. ‘You (pl.) said to me.’
x̣ənʔətúŋɬ cxʷ . ‘You said to us.’
x̣ənʔətúŋɬ cxʷ hay. ‘You (pl.) said to us.’
x̣ənʔác cn. ‘I said to you.’
x̣ənʔác st. ‘We said to you.’
x̣ənʔác cn hay. ‘I said to you (pl.).’
x̣ənʔác st hay. ‘We said to you (pl.).’
x̣ənʔáxʷ cn. ‘I said to him/her/it/them.’
x̣ənʔáxʷ st. ‘We said to him/her/it/them.’
x̣ənʔáxʷ cxʷ. ‘You said to him/her/it/them.’
x̣ənʔáxʷ cxʷ hay. ‘You (pl.) said to him/her/it/them.’
x̣ənʔátəŋ. ‘He/she/it/they said to him/her/it/them.’
► 10 Note that the ‑s subject suffix does not occur on x̣ənʔáxʷ. The only way to say, for example, ‘he said to him’ is with the passive x̣ənʔátəŋ.
► 11 The next two reporting verbs, sát and yəcúst, both often translate as ‘tell someone.’ But there is really a big difference in their meanings. sát means ‘tell’ in the sense of to ‘order someone,’ ‘command someone,’ or ‘bid someone’ to do something. So sát cn means ‘I told him (to do it).’ yəcúst, on the other hand, means ‘tell’ in the sense of ‘report to someone’ or ‘give news or information to someone.’ This has the same root as syə́cəm ‘news, information.’ So yəcúst cn means ‘I told him (something).’
► 12 The last reporting verb shown in the models, čtát, is transitive and means ‘ask him/her/them.’ Note that this differs from the use of English ‘ask’ in that in English one can ‘ask a person’ or ‘ask a question.’ In Klallam the object of čtát can only be a person. This is, in fact, true of all of the transitive reporting verbs: x̣ənʔáxʷ, sát, yəcúst, and čtát. Each can have only a person (or animal if, say, you’re talking to your pet) object. The object of the verb is the one the subject is talking to.
► 13 The second two models using qʷáy show how these direct quotes normally appear in a smoothly flowing story. Review §35.2 on the use of suʔ… and níɬ suʔ… These patterns are by far the most common way that any of these reporting verbs appear with direct quotes.
► 14 The seven verbs given in the models are the most common reporting verbs, but any verb of communication can be a reporting verb. Here are some others: kʷčáŋət ‘holler at’; kʷáčəŋ ‘yell’; x̣čŋín ‘think’ (inner communication); sáwqəŋ ‘whisper’; qʷiqə́yŋət ‘scold’; t̓íyəm ‘sing’; ŋə́x̣t ‘speak out strongly to’; x̣iʔə́yu ‘write’; ʔaʔkʷúst ‘advise’; táyəcən/táycn/nəxʷtčúcən ‘answer, reply, respond’; nəxʷtčúct ‘reply to someone.’
 | stáŋ ʔuč kʷi ʔən̓sčtát. | ‘What did you ask her?’ |
 | x̣ənʔáxʷ cn, “x̣ʷə́ŋ u cn ʔiʔ hiyáʔ.” | ‘I said to her, “Can I go?”’ |
| ʔínət yaʔ ʔay̓ cə ʔən̓tán. | ‘What did your mother say?’ |
| ʔáx̣əŋ, “ʔáw.” | ‘She said, “No.”’ |