Can direct speech lead to ambiguity when spoken?

Question

For example I tell my friend:

Tell her 'I Love you'

Since he is not going to see the quotation marks he might perceive it as

Tell her I love you

And he might end up telling her

'He loves me'

Answer 1

It depends on how you speak :)

In the case of:

Tell her 'I Love you'

you should actually say:

Tell her: [............] 'I Love you'

Notice the (short) pause in speech between the two parts. Also, the tone of the voice is different in the two parts:

• "tell her" - stronger voice, it is an order / advice;
• "I love you" - a romantic voice.

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It is quite possible that sometimes confusions will happen, but that is not specific to English only.