Il discorso riportato nei processi. Tipologie e funzioni

Abstract – This paper aims to contribute to the reflection on the use of reported speech in the judicial field. The scenario of reference is the trial following the “Erba Massacre” which took place on 11th December 2006. A linguistic analysis was conducted on the material used during the episodes of the TV programme “Un giorno in Pretura” that dealt with this case. A critical examination of the comments reveals from a linguistic point of view the considerable incidence of reported speech in communicative contexts of controlled public speaking. The introduction briefly outlines the theoretics behind the main forms of reported speech, i.e. “direct” and “indirect”, as well as the functions attributed to each of them. The next section provides a detailed analysis of collected data samples, which point out how difficult and at times impossible it is to pinpoint one particular function as the main feature for any given form of reported speech. In conclusion, it may be said that also in the judicial field, the need emerges to take into consideration the fact that reported speech has a wide range of possible functions and to carry out a functional analysis that may highlight the main functions on a case-by-case basis, depending on the communicative context in which it appears.