In Inuktitut, la is a morpheme that marks direct speech. A syllable la also occurs within several verbal morphemes, notably in imperative forms and in negative forms. The distribution of la in the verbal paradigms has remained unexplained to our knowledge. Here we show that, in those two contexts, la, despite the fact that it has different grammatical properties, has a common semantic value: the fragment of discourse to which la is postposed, is construed as emanating from a discourse source distinct from the speaker. This is true of la both as a free, productive morpheme and as intervening in verbal suffixes in which it is integrated. The opposition between the indicative and attributive modes has remained poorly understood until now. In our discussion, we clarify it in terms of the interpretation of la and also explain the distribution of la in negative verbal forms and in imperatives. Theoretically, we take la as evidence that the speaker can present speech as emanating from a different source. This is not specific to Inuktitut and has been labeled " enuncia-tion " and " polyphony. " We review the " polyphony theory " and show how the facts of Inuktitut fit well into it.