The variability of late Latin authors' means for marking direct discourse

Texts from the Late Latin period (ca 200–813 ce) display a change in choices of markers – verbal, nonverbal, and zero – in direct discourse. This article considers the uniformity of the changes that have emerged and the role of individual authors' decisions, examining a sample of texts from classical antiquity (first century bce) to the end of the eighth century ce. Frequency was counted as the proportion of a specific marker appearing among all the markers in a given text. Later texts show greater variation because new markers were added to old ones, changing the frequency of individual markers. Significant differences also emerge within an individual author's work. Closer examination reveals that some authors were inventive in combining old and new traits, creating new properties that are at one time continuous and discontinuous.