Misunderstanding A Reporting Nexus

Martin & Rose (2007: 177-8):

At one point in Helena’s story we see a bit of tension between what the grammar tells us to expect and what in fact takes place. Helena seems about to quote (Then he says followed by a colon), but continues in the third person (he and three of our friends) without opening quotes:

Then he says: He and three of our friends have been promoted.
'We're moving to a special unit. Now, now my darling. We are real policemen now.'

Within quotes she would have written ‘Three of our friends and I…'. The tense of the verb (have not had) combines with the tracking to delay for one clause the actual move to the direct speech. The overall effect of this interaction between punctuation, grammar and discourse is to create a meaning somewhere between telling and quoting.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, this instance is merely a reporting nexus, thinly disguised by graphology (punctuation) that invites a misinterpretation of the relation between clauses as paratactic:

Then he says (that) he and three of our friends have been promoted.

Cf 'free indirect speech' where a reporting clause projects a quote instead of a report; see Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 531-3).

[2] To be clear, there is no tension and no delay. Martin & Rose have merely been fooled by taking the view 'from below' (the expression in graphology) rather than the view 'from above' (the meaning being expressed).

[3] To be clear, in SFL Theory, the distinction is between reporting and quoting. However, Martin's system of logical discourse semantics, CONJUNCTION, does not account for the logico-semantic relation of projection.