Grazer Linguistische Studien / Linguistik des Selbstgesprächs, mit Evidenz aus Schnitzlers „Leutnant Gustl

While the reflection on self-talk goes back at least to Plato's Theaetetus, its significance for linguistic theory became apparent only recently. I re-interpret the distinction of Holmberg (2010) between "Italk" and "You- talk" in terms of William James' distinction of "I" and "Me", which I will call "Inner" and "Outer" self. In You-talk, the Outer Self addresses the Inner Self; in I-talk, it is either the Outer Self or the Inner Self that is speaking, depending on whether the perspective is more externalized and objectified, or internalized and expressive. Following recent work by Ritter & Wiltschko (2021), I argue that the two modes of self-talk are represented in different ways in syntax. Assuming the framework of Krifka (2015), I argue that assertions in Italk are expressive, whereas in You-talk they form self-oriented commitments of the speaker, similar to Judgements in the sense of Charles S. Peirce. I will investigate the claims about self-talk with the novella Leutnant Gustl by Arthur Schnitzler, published 1900.