JSHint throwing 'undefined' warnings in revealing module pattern

Question

I am getting several 'undefined' errors when running this code in JSHint:

MERLIN.namespace('MERLIN.http');

MERLIN.http = function ($, window) {
    'use strict';
    // import dependencies

    function request(config) {
        if (!config || typeof config !== 'object') {
            return;
        }
        // perform request
        $.ajax({
            type: config.type || 'GET',
            url: config.url,
            dataType: config.dataType,
            data: config.data || {},
            processData: config.process || false,
            beforeSend: function () {
                indicator(config.panel, config.indicator);
            },
            complete: function () {
                indicator(config.panel, config.indicator);
            },
            success: function (resp) {
                var callback = config.success || null;
                if (typeof callback !== 'function') {
                    callback = false;
                }
                if (callback) {
                    callback.apply(this, [resp]);
                }
            },
            error: function (xhr, textStatus, errorThrown) {
                httpError({
                    xhr: xhr,
                    status: textStatus,
                    error: errorThrown,
                    panel: config.panel
                });
            }
        });
    };

    function indicator(panel, type) {
        if ((!panel || typeof panel !== 'string') || (!type || typeof type !== 'string')) {
            return;
        }
        var indicatorType = (type === 'large') ? type = 'indicatorLarge' : type = 'indicatorSmall';
        return $(panel).toggleClass(indicatorType);
    };

    function httpError() {
        return this;
    };

    return {
        request: request,
        error: httpError
    };

} (jQuery, this);

I am not sure why the undefined errors are being thrown for 'indicator' and 'httpError' and why the use of 'return this' is a potential strict violation. I know I can safely ignore the undefined error relating to the namespace as the general purpose namespace function is defined earlier in a separate file.

Is it just a case of pragmatism versus strict validation?

Thanks :)