At-issueness in direct quotation: the case of Mayan quotatives

Abstract

In addition to lexical verbs of saying, many languages have more grammaticized means for reporting the speech of others. This paper presents the first detailed formal account of one such device: quotative morphemes in Mayan languages, with a focus on Yucatec Maya ki(j). When mentioned in previous literature, quotatives have either been regarded as a special kind of verb of saying or reportative evidential. I argue that quotatives have important differences (and some similarities) with both verbs of saying and reportatives. To capture these properties, I propose a ‘scoreboard’ account where quotative ki(j) signals that the co-occurring quotative material demonstrates a move in an in-narrative scoreboard.