Assume a complex construction consisting of S1 and S2 such that S1 codes an act of communication with N as its communicator, and S2 represents what is communicated (N's ‘reported speech’). Then

• if N is the origo of the deixis in S2, S2 is direct speech
• if the speaker of ‘S1 S2’ is the origo of the deixis in S2, S2 is indirect speech.

Thus, assume that N is Linda and she addresses her utterance to me, the one who later reports that act of communication in saying . Then my rendering of Linda's utterance in a, where me refers to Linda, is direct speech; its rendering in #b, where I refers to me, is indirect speech.

In either case, reported speech involves a deictic shift.