direct discourse
- noun
- /dəˈrɛkt dɪsˈkɔrs/
- Specialized
:
discurso directo
- There are 960 instances of direct discourse in Dubliners: 707 by males, 243 by females, and 10 unmarked for gender.
- instances of direct discourse
- patterns of direct discourse
Examples
-
A cursory glance at the book will immediately reveal that characters' direct discourse is hardly ever represented.
Academic text (1992) -
I am not here concerned with exactly what Gretta and Gabriel say, but with the pattern of direct discourse.
Academic text (1991) -
As the data on direct discourse shows, they hardly talk.
Academic text (1991) -
A documents the instances of direct discourse by story and by gender.
Academic text (1991) -
There is no direct discourse regarding Joyce and probably never was.
Academic text (2004) -
The direct discourse of women provides a remarkable frame for Dubliners.
Academic text (1991) -
In order to see such patterns, we need a brief but exact account of direct discourse in Dubliners.
Academic text (1991) -
Furthermore, the distribution of women's direct discourse does not follow the same pattern as men's.
Academic text (1991) -
In her essay, she included a quote to demonstrate the importance of direct discourse in storytelling.
-
The novel features various characters, each with distinct direct discourse that reflects their personalities.
Synonyms
62
2.6
A short piece of someone else's words used to support an idea with the source named
1
3.0
The exact words someone said or wrote shown in quotation marks
Antonyms
A way of reporting what someone said without using their exact words, often changing pronouns and verb tenses
How Direct
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'direct' (verbatim, literal) modifies 'discourse' (speech/communication), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to speech presented verbatim. The construction is straightforward and has clear cross-linguistic equivalents (e.g. Spanish 'discurso directo'/'estilo directo'), making it readily comprehensible to B1 learners.
Etymology
Direct discourse comes from the idea of showing a person's words exactly as they were said. The word direct means 'exact' and discourse means 'speech', so putting someone's words in quotation marks is like copying their speech exactly, which is why it means 'repeating the exact words'.