52 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 SENĆOŦEN 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 SENĆOŦEN. In §53 we will cover indirect quotes.
Models
| 1) | ḰÁL SEN , "YÁ¸ ĆE!" | ‘I spoke, “Go!”’ |
| 2) | NE SU¸ ḰÁL , "YÁ¸ ĆE!" | ‘So I spoke, “Go!”’ |
| 3) | NIȽ NE SU¸ ḰÁL , "YÁ¸ ĆE!" | ‘So then I spoke, “Go!”’ |
| 4) | AXEṈ SEN , "YÁ¸ ĆE!" | ‘I said, “Go!”’ |
| 5) | XENEṈ SEN , "YÁ¸ ĆE!" | ‘I said, “Go!”’ |
| 6) | XEN¸OW̱ SEN , "YÁ¸ ĆE!" | ‘I said to him, “Go!”’ |
| 7) | XEN¸ÁTEṈ SEN , "YÁ¸ ĆE!" | ‘They said to me, “Go!”’ |
| 8) | XENṈIȻEN SEN , "ÍY¸ Ȼ NE SYÁ." | ‘I thought, “I should go.”’ |
| 9) | YEŦOST SEN , "YÁ¸ ĆE!" | ‘I told him, “Go!”’ |
| 10) | YEŦOSTEṈ SEN , "YÁ¸ ĆE!" | ‘They told me, “Go!”’ |
| 11) | ĆTÁT SEN , "YÁ¸ E SW̱?" | ‘I asked him, “Did you go?”’ |
| 12) | ĆTÁTEṈ SEN , "YÁ¸ E SW̱?" | ‘They asked me, “Did you go?”’ |
| 13) | SÁT SEN , "YÁ¸ ĆE!" | ‘I ordered him, “Go!”’ |
| 14) | SÁTEṈ SEN , "YÁ¸ E SW̱?" | ‘They ordered me, “Go!”’ |
| 15) | W̱TÁLḴEN SEN , "ÍY¸." | ‘I replied, “Okay.”’ |
‣ 1 In each of the models, a reporting clause introduces quoted speech. For example, in model 1, ḰÁL SEN ‘I spoke’ is the reporting clause and YÁ¸ ĆE! is the quoted speech.
‣ 2 Note that in each of the models the reporting clause comes before the quoted speech in both SENĆOŦEN and English. In English, the reporting clause can follow the reported speech as in ‘“Did you go,” I asked him’ or even in the middle ‘“Did you,” I asked him, “go?”’ In SENĆOŦEN, the reporting clause can follow quoted speech, but it much more commonly comes before, as shown in the models. The reporting clause comes before the quoted speech in 95% of the hundreds of occurrences of direct quotes in the recorded narratives. The SENĆOŦEN reporting clause never comes in the middle of quoted speech the way it can in English.
‣ 3 The models illustrate all of the reporting clauses used in the recorded narratives of L1 SENĆOŦEN speakers. Each of these need special comments.
‣ 4 Models 1, 2, and 3 illustrate the most common reporting verb: ḰÁL ‘speak, talk.’ This is the root of the word SḰÁL ‘word, sentence, language.’ As a reporting verb it is almost always translated as ‘say’ since that is better fluent English than using ‘speak’ or ‘spoke.’ The model translations show the more literal interpretation.
‣ 5 Models 2 and 3 show the most typical use. Since direct quotes usually occur within the context of a smoothly flowing story, they usually occur in a SU¸‑ or NIȽ SU¸‑ construction. Although this is illustrated only with ḰÁL, all of the reporting verbs typically appear in a SU¸‑ or NIȽ SU¸‑ construction.
‣ 6 Models 4 and 5 have the same English translation. AXEṈ and XENEṈ both mean ‘say’ or ‘do.’ The two occur in the recorded narratives with equal frequency. They can be used interchangeably in direct quotes. In indirect quotes, however, only AXEṈ occurs (§53). XENEṈ is more likely to occur in a SU¸‑ or NIȽ SU¸- construction, but AXEṈ is sometimes used that way.
‣ 7 Both AXEṈ and XENEṈ have the ‑EṈ middle voice suffix (§35.3). The roots are AX and XEN, but only XEN can occur with other suffixes. In addition to XENEṈ in model 5, models 6, 7, and 8 also have the XEN root.
‣ 8 The word XEN¸OW̱ ‘say to,’ shown in model 5 is the transitive form. The ‑¸OW̱ ending on this verb occurs on only one other transitive verb in SENĆOŦEN. This is one of only two transitive verbs without one of the regular transitivizing suffixes like ‑ET or ‑NEW̱. The other, EN¸OW̱ ‘bring,’ is discussed in §40.2, points 8 and 9.
‣ 9 Unlike EN¸OW̱, which takes only third-person objects (§40.2, point 9), XEN¸OW̱ can take first- and second-person objects as well as third-person objects. As with EN¸OW̱, the OW̱ ending is a form of the causative suffix ‑TW̱ (§40). The -T of the causative appears when any object suffix is added to XEN¸OW̱. Here are the first- and second-person object forms. Note that the object suffixes are the Ṉ-set §40:
XEN¸TOṈES ‘say to me’
XEN¸TOṈE ‘say to you’
XEN¸TOL¸W̱ ‘say to us’
‣ 10 Model 7 shows XEN¸ÁTEṈ, which is the passive form of XEN¸OW̱. The literal meaning of XEN¸ÁTEṈ is ‘be said to,’ but this is not a good fluent English usage, so the English translation of XEN¸ÁTEṈ always uses the nonpassive.
‣ 11 The passive of XEN¸OW̱ is unusual in having an unexpected Á stressed vowel. Note that it also has the T from the causative ‑TW̱.
‣ 12 The form of XEN¸OW̱ and XEN¸ÁTEṈ is unusual. The meaning is also unusual. These are causative forms, but the word XEN¸OW̱ has no ‘cause’ meaning. It does not mean anything like ‘cause to say.’ The verb ḰAL, shown in models 1, 2, and 3 can also be made transitive with the causative suffix: ḰÁLTW̱ SEN ‘I spoke to him/her.’ ḰÁLTW̱ also takes the Ṉ-set object. And ḰÁLTW̱, like XEN¸OW̱, has no ‘cause’ in its meaning. It does not mean anything like ‘cause to speak.’ ḰÁLTW̱, unlike XEN¸OW̱, cannot be used as a reporting verb.
‣ 13 Model 8 shows XENEṈ with the -IȻEN ‘mind, interior’ lexical suffix (§37). The reporting clause in model 8 could be translated more literally as ‘I said in my mind.’
‣ 14 Models 9 and 10 are the nonpassive and passive of the verb meaning ‘tell someone.’ In English you can ‘tell a person’ something or you can ‘tell a story.’ In SENĆOŦEN, the object of YEŦOST can only be the person you are telling something to.
‣ 15 Models 11 and 12 are the nonpassive and passive of the verb meaning ‘ask someone.’ In English you can ‘ask someone’ or you can ‘ask a question.’ In SENĆOŦEN, the object of ĆTÁT can only be the person who is being asked.
‣ 16 Models 13 and 14 are the nonpassive and passive of the verb meaning ‘tell someone to.’ SÁT can be translated as ‘order someone,’ as in the models. It could also be translated ‘direct someone’ to do something. It is usually translated ‘tell someone to.’ The object of SÁT is always the person being told to do something.
‣ 17 The reporting verb in model 15, W̱TÁLḴEN ‘reply,’ is intransitive and never has a transitive form.
 | STÁṈ OĆE Ȼ EN¸ SĆTÁT? | ‘What did you ask her?’ |
 | XEN¸OW̱ SEN, “X̱EṈ E SEN I¸ YÁ¸? | ‘I said to her, “Can I go?”’ |
| INET OĆE ŦE EN¸ TÁN? | ‘What did your mother say?’ |
| AXEṈ, “EWE.” | ‘She said, “No.”’ |
| 52A. Translate into English. 1. SU¸ XEN¸ÁTEṈS, “TES LE¸ SEN.” 2. NE SU¸ XEN¸OW̱, “EWE SEN SE¸” 3. SU¸ ḰÁLS TŦE NE MÁN LE¸, “EWENE NE SXĆIT.” 4. ĆTÁTEṈ SEN ¸E ŦE NE TÁN, “SṮOṮEM E SW̱?” | 52B. Translate into SENĆOŦEN 1. They said, “We’re leaving.” 2. My mother told me, “Come home.” 3. So then I said, “I want water.” 4. So I asked him, “Who are you?” |