Abstract
In this paper we deal with a specific subset of direct speech markers, to which little or no attention has been given so far: the expressions which codify the ending of the direct speech (“marcatori conclusivi del discorso diretto”). We analyse these markers in Old Italian texts, comparing them with their Latin and, in some cases, Old French equivalents. In the introduction (§1), we take into account various general issues related to ancient texts, namely the practice of spoken-word reading and the lack of systematic punctuation marking that helps text segmentation. After that (§2), we classify the different strategies ancient writers had at their disposal to signal that a direct speech is over, hence that what follows has to be interpreted as the narrator voice; the markers are organized in a range from most explicit to most implicit (disse > quando ebbe detto > a queste parole > allora > [Ø]). Thereafter (§3), we focus on two specific markers, the participial marker (detto questo) and the “connector + finite tense” marker (quando ebbe detto questo) in a corpus of nine texts. Though these two markers are roughly synonymic, their occurrence is not uniform among the analysed texts. The explanation of their unequal distribution is that they belong to different discourse traditions (Diskurstraditionen): “quando + finite tense” is a typical expression attested in Romance narrations (the so-called “quand-Satz”), whereas detto questo appears to be dependent on Latin tradition.