Aquotation orquote is the repetition of a sentence, phrase, or passage from speech or text that someone has said or written.[1] In oral speech, it is the representation of an utterance (i.e. of something that a speaker actually said) that is introduced by a quotative marker, such as a verb of saying. For example: John said: "I saw Mary today". Quotations in oral speech are also signaled by specialprosody in addition to quotative markers. In written text, quotations are signaled by quotation marks.[2] Quotations are also used to present well-known statement parts that are explicitly attributed bycitation to their original source; such statements are marked with (punctuated with)quotation marks.
As a form oftranscription,direct orquoted speech is spoken or written text that reports speech or thought in its original form phrased by the original speaker. Innarrative, it is usually enclosed in quotation marks,[3] but it can be enclosed inguillemets (« ») in some languages. The cited speaker either is mentioned in the tag (or attribution) or is implied. Direct speech is often used as a literary device to represent someone's point of view. Quotations are also widely used in spoken language when an interlocutor wishes to present a proposition that they have come to know via hearsay.
Direct speech andindirect speech can also refer to the difference between speech acts where theillocutionary force is conveyed directly and indirectly, respectively. Thus, "What time is it?" is a direct speech act that might also be expressed by the indirect speech act "Do you know what time it is?"[5]
A crucial semantic distinction between direct and indirect speech is that direct speech purports to report the exact words that were said or written, whereas indirect speech is a representation of speech in one's own words.[3]
The distinction between indirect speech and free indirect speech is mostly one of style, hence free indirect speech is sometimes described as a free indirect style.
A quotation can also refer to the repeated use of units of any other form of expression, especially parts of artistic works: elements of apainting, scenes from amovie or sections from amusical composition.
Quotations are used for a variety of reasons: to illuminate the meaning or to support the arguments of the work in which it is being quoted, to provide direct information about the work being quoted (whether in order to discuss it, positively or negatively), to pay homage to the original work orauthor, to make the user of the quotation seem well-read, and/or to comply with copyright law.[6] Quotations are also commonly printed as a means of inspiration and to invoke philosophical thoughts from the reader. Pragmatically speaking, quotations can also be used as language games (in the Wittgensteinian sense of the term) to manipulate social order and the structure of society.[7][8]
Famous quotations are frequently collected in books that are sometimes called quotation dictionaries or treasuries. Of these,Bartlett's Familiar Quotations,The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations,TheColumbia Dictionary of Quotations,The Yale Book of Quotations andTheMacmillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases are considered among the most reliable and comprehensive sources. Diaries and calendars often include quotations for entertainment or inspirational purposes, and small, dedicated sections in newspapers and weekly magazines—with recent quotations by leading personalities on current topics—have also become commonplace.
Many quotations are routinely incorrect or attributed to the wrong authors, and quotations from obscure or unknown writers are often attributed to far more famous writers. Examples of this areWinston Churchill, to whom many political quotations of uncertain origin are attributed, andOscar Wilde, to whom anonymous humorous quotations are sometimes attributed.[9]
Some quotations commonly believed to be quotations from literature, film, etc. do not actually appear in the source material, but are paraphrases of phrases that do. TheStar Trek catchphrase "Beam me up, Scotty" did not appear in that form in the original series. Other misquotations include "Just the facts, ma'am" (attributed toJack Webb's character ofJoe Friday onDragnet), "Heavy lies the crown" from Shakespeare's PlayHenry IV, Part 2, "Elementary, my dear Watson" (attributed toSherlock Holmes; it was, however, said in the filmsThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmes andThe Return of Sherlock Holmes), "Luke, I am your father" (attributed toDarth Vader inStar Wars), "Play it again, Sam" (attributed to Ilsa inCasablanca), "Do you feel lucky, punk?" (attributed toHarry Callahan inDirty Harry) and "We don't need no stinkin' badges!" (attributed to Gold Hat inThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre).[10][11][12][13]
Quotative inversion occurs in sentences where the direct quotation can occur before a verb of saying or after a verb of saying. It can trigger inversion of the verb and the verb'ssubject. Subject-verb inversion occurs most often in written works, being rare in speech.[14] Quotations may appear before the inverted verb, but can also appear after the subject,[15] such as:"I am going to follow you all the rest of my life," declared the man[15] andSaid the woman: "I see you with both my eyes."[15]
Also referred to as inverted quotations, this technique of reversing the sequence of an existing phrase or formulation is commonly found in biblical texts, particularly the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.[16] It serves to evoke various emotional and rhetorical effects, mainly to draw extra attention from the reader or listener.[17][18] By reversing a previously established sequence, authors can introduce surprise, emphasize key points, or create contrasts that highlight the text's significance and its connections to other biblical passages.[19][20]
In syntactic terms, these direct quotations can be presented in two forms. The first is as thecomplement of a quotative verb (e.g. Marie said: "My brother has arrived"), and the second being as a head clause with a quotativeadjunct (e.g. "My brother has arrived", Marie announces).[2] Theverb phrase can be further expanded to include a complement, such as: "They'll never make it!" cried Johnto Mary. Subjects must precede the complement, otherwise the structure formed will be ungrammatical (e.g. *"They'll never make it!" criedto Mary John).[14] Quotative inversion is only allowed when the verb is in thesimple present or thesimple past. The most common pairing is the verbsaid with anominal subject, such as: "That's the whole trouble," said Gwen.[21] Additionally,noun phrases are not permitted in addition to the subject when inversion takes place.[14] They are allowed only when there is no subject-verb inversion, or when part of a preposition phrase.[15]
In English, both verb-subject and subject-verb word orders are permitted:
This however, is not the case in all languages. For example, in Peninsular Spanish, this inversion is not allowed. Quotatives must follow verb-subject order:
Brackets are used to indicate an addition or a modification from the original quote. Various uses of brackets in quotes are:[24]
When "[sic]" is added, it means that errors are present in the original text. For example,"Domestic cats are valued by hoomans [sic] for companionship."
Traditionally, quotations—more specifically known as direct quotations[25]—have been distinguished from indirect quotations. Direct quotations differ from indirect quotations in that they are reported from the perspective of the experiencer, while indirect quotations are reported from the perspective of the reporting speaker (e.g. "He said: 'I am leaving now'" versus "He said (that) he was leaving immediately"); are free in their syntactic form, while indirect quotations are subject to language-specific structural requirements (e.g. indirect quotations in manyIndo-European languages are required to have the syntactic form of awell-formed declarativesubordinate clause); incorporate extralinguistic material and pragmatic markers, while indirect quotations do not. Crucially, direct quotations have a performative aspect (i.e. occur simultaneously with re-enactments of previous behaviours), which indirect quotations lack.[26][25]
Both direct and indirect quotations in spoken discourse are not intended to beverbatim reproductions of an utterance that has been produced. Instead, direct quotations convey the approximative meaning of such an utterance along with the way in which that utterance was produced. From asociolinguistic perspective, a direct quotation in spoken discourse can therefore also be defined as "a performance whereby speakers re-enact previous behaviour (speech/thought/sound/voice effect and gesture) while assuming the dramatic role of the original source of this reported behaviour".[26] Indirect quotations are simply paraphrases of something that a reporting speaker heard.[27]
Quotations are employed in spoken discourse for many reasons. They are often used by speakers to depict stories and events that have occurred in the past to otherinterlocutors. The speaker does not necessarily have to have been an original participant in the story or event. Therefore, they can quote something that they did not hear firsthand. Quotations are also used to express thoughts that have never been uttered aloud prior to being quoted. For example, while telling a story, a speaker quotes inner thoughts that they had during a specific situation. Finally, speakers use quotations to propose future dialogue for participants in a situation that may take place in the future. For example, two friends talk about their 10-year high school reunion that will take place in the future and propose what they would say. While future dialogue can be proposed for a situation that will likely happen, it can also be based on a situation that will not actually take place. In the latter usage, the proposed dialogue only exists in the conversational context.[28]
The quoted material is usually not a verbatim replication of an utterance that someone originally said. Instead, quotations in spoken discourse reproduce what a speaker wishes to communicate to their recipients; quotations demonstrate something that someone said, the manner in which that person said it, and the current speaker’s feelings about what was said.[28][25] In this way, quotations are an especially effective storytelling device; the speaker is able to give a voice to the protagonists in their stories themselves, which allows the speaker’s audience to experience the situation in the way that the speaker themselves experienced it.[26]
In most languages, quotations in spoken discourse are introduced by averb of saying and apronoun. For example, a quotation in English can be introduced by "She said". In some languages, there is adiscourse marker in addition to the verb of saying that functions as verbal quotation marks.[27] For example, Japanese uses the quotative particle (a type of quotative marker)to along with theconjugated verb of sayingitta:
ゆき
Yuki
Yuki
あなた
anata
you
彼女
kanojo
her
好き
suki
like
言った。
itta.
said
ゆき は あなた には 彼女 が 好きと言った。
Yuki wa anata {ni wa} kanojo ga sukitoitta.
Yuki TOP you {DAT (TOP)} her NOM like COM said
"Yuki said that you liked her."
Verbs of saying (known as quotative verbs when used to introduce quotations) and quotative particles are used as quotative markers, which signal quotations in utterances.[27] Quotative evidentials are also used in some languages to indicate quoted speech (e.g.Cusco Quechua spoken in Peru,Nanti spoken in lowland southeastern Peru,Laal spoken in Chad).[29][30][31]
Quotative markers are used to mark a section of an utterance as quoted speech (i.e. a quotation). In oral speech, quotative markers act as quotation marks and often include a verb of saying (e.g.say). A quotative marker usually appears either before or after the reported speech or thought, depending on thesyntax of the language.[27] For example, compare the following languages:
In English, the quotative verbsay occurs before the quotation:[27]
In American English, verbs such asbe like,go, andbe all are non-standard quotatives that are commonly used incolloquial speech.[27][33] They are observed in the speech of young people not only in American English, but in othervarieties of English as well (e.g.be like in New Zealand English,[34]be like andgo inGlasgow English[33]).[32][33] Though not semantically considered verbs of saying, they are used to convey the same meaning as such verbs. Likesay,be like,go, andbe all occur before the quotation:[27]
In conversational speech, the use ofsay andbe like occurs at about the same frequency,[32] thoughsay tends to be used in more formal contexts (e.g. office hours between professors and students) andbe like tends to occur in more informal contexts (e.g. a conversation between two young people).[33]
In African American Vernacular English,talkin' 'bout occurs as a verb of quotation, introducing both direct and indirect quotes, as in:
In Japanese, the quotative particleto along with the verb of sayingiu (say) occur after the quotation; the conjugated form ofiu (say) isitta:[27]
太郎
Taro
Taro
晴海
Harumi
Harumi
憎んでいる
nikundeiru
hated
言った。
itta.
said
太郎 は 晴海 を 憎んでいると言った。
Taro wa Harumi o nikundeirutoitta.
Taro TOP Harumi ACC hated COM said
"Taro said that he hated Harumi."lit. "that 'I hated Harumi'"
The quotative particleto can also occur with verbs of thinking, such asomou (think). Liketo andiu (say),to andomou occur after the quotation.
InLaal, the quotative evidentialmɨ́ is used for non-self quotation[31] (i.e. quotation in which the speaker quotes someone else, not themself); it is used with a quotative verbɓɨ́lá. The use ofmɨ́ results in an indirect quotation translation. The quotative verbbɨ́lá occurs before the quotation, while the quotative evidentialmɨ́ occurs within the quoted speechjá mɨ́ nyàg tāā wó:
ài
He
ɓɨ́lá
say
mɨ́
(say)that
já*i/j
I
mɨ́
nyàg
eat
tāā
fish
wó
àiɓɨ́lá mɨ́ já*i/jmɨ́ nyàg tāā wó
Hesay (say)that IQEV eat fish NEG
"Hei said that I*i/j don't/didn't eat fish."
As the above sentence involves a non-self quotation,à (he) andjá (I) have different indices to show that they refer to differentreferents; only this interpretation iswell-formed. The interpretation in which they share identical indices is ill-formed (i.e. ungrammatical), as indicated by the asterisk.
In addition to quotative markers, speakers also useprosodic shifts, pauses, pronominal choices, andtense to detect the occurrence and boundaries of quotations in spoken utterances.[27]
Different versions of quotative verbs, particles, and evidentials can be used to express the same idea with varying nuances, often to frame how the primary speaker, or the person who is quoting, feels about a quotation. The syntax of quotations varies cross-linguistically. A primary speaker may use the tense and linguistic idiosyncrasies of the speech at the time it was uttered in a quotation, independent from the tense in the main clause in some languages, or use the same tense in both the main clause and quotation in other languages. They will also usecoreferenced pronouns to the direct quotation's first-person subject in the main clause: Shex said, "Ix..."; theyy said "wey ..." In many languages, the primary speaker may also attempt to quote an utterance in the same language the original speaker used, even if an interlocutor does not understand it; however, it is mainly context-dependent such as when telling stories.[38][39][40]
Quotative verbs are lexical verbs that indicate the speech, thoughts, or perceptions of the original speaker.[38][39]
Quotations can be introduced as the complement to a quotative verb or as the head phrase to an adjunct phrase containing a quotative verb in some languages like English and French.[2][40]
| Quotation as complement | Quotation as head phrase adjunct[2] | |
|---|---|---|
| English | Marie said, "My brother has arrived." | "My brother has arrived," Marie said. |
| French | Marie a dit, "Mon frère est arrivé." | "Mon frère est arrivé," comme a dit Marie. |
English also displaysverb-second (V2) order vestige only in quotation contexts (quotative inversion), requiring the finite verb to appear in the second position of a clause. For example: "No no no"says Harry.[40]
Direct and indirect quotations are sometimes not distinguishable. Traditionally, English uses an overt complementizerthat after a quotative verb to indicate indirect quotation, but it is also seen to prompt direct quotation in some English varieties like Indian English, Hong Kong English, and Kenyan English.
| Hong Kong English | After the movie I justsaid that "Oh Frank I cannot walk."[40] |
| Indian English | Never a husbandsays that "I'll make a cup of tea okay, you sit. I'll make a cup of tea." |
| Kenyan English | So Kabuwe Abuwetold usthat "If it is for wedding I am not going to contribute." |
The newer quotative verbbe like in English is used to only introduce direct quotations.Be like includes the use of the demonstrativethat, which is null in most English varieties, but can be optionally overt in some varieties like Glasgow English. Dutch's quotative verbhebben zoiets van has a similar structure to Standard American English in that it has a null demonstrative that precedes the quotation. It differs from the English structures in that it uses an overt quantifierzoiets to bewell-formed.[41]
| Standard North American English | Glasgow English | Dutch[41] |
|---|---|---|
| [TP Aaron [T' was [PP like [DP∅ [QUOTE I hate you]]]]] | [TP Aaron [T' was [PP like [DP∅ [QUOTE I hate you]]]]] | [TP Ik [T' hebben [DPzoiets [PP van [DP∅ [QUOTE I hate you]]]]] |
| *[TP Aaron [T' was [PP like [DPthat [QUOTE I hate you]]]]] | [TP Aaron [T' was [PP like [DPthat [QUOTE I hate you]]]]] | *[TP Ik [T' hebben [DP∅ [PP van [DP∅ [QUOTE I hate you]]]]] |
Quotative or hearsay particles are grammatical markers equivalent to full lexical verbs with meanings of"say, mention, tell, etc." In many languages, they aregrammaticalized to different extremes from their previously lexical form. Common patterns of grammaticalization trajectories include verb to complementizer in many African and Asian languages and verb totense-aspect-mood markers primarily in African languages, but also in Australian languages and multiple otherlanguage families.[40][42]
Japanese, for example, uses a sentence-final quotative particlette verbally to mean "I heard (quote)" with some uncertainty. In sentence-medial position,tte is sometimes regarded along withto to be either a quotative particle or complementizer meaning "I heard (quote)" with less uncertainty and often more knowledge of the origin of the quote.
明日
ashita
tomorrow
晴れる
hareru
will-be-fine
明日 晴れる -って
ashita harerutte.
tomorrow will-be-fine QUOT
"It will be fine tomorrow, I heard."
明日
ashita
tomorrow
晴れる
hareru
will-be-fine
言ってた
itteta
said
明日 晴れるって/と 言ってた よ
ashita hareru-tte/to itteta yo.
tomorrow will-be-fine QUOT said FP
"(X) said that it would be fine tomorrow."
Verbs of saying are highly restricted in Australian languages and almost always immediately proceed the complement verb.
wurlan
word
wurlan wurr-u-miyangga bud-ma-ra-ngarrugu
word 3PL-FUT-know 3PL-say-PST-1PL.OBL.IRR
"They will know this word" they said to us.
Quotative or hearsay evidentials provide knowledge of who or where information originated from in speech based on logical assumption. Languages indicate this in various ways: through grammatical marking, additional words and phrases, prosody, gestures, or systematic affixes of verbs. Quotative readings of evidentials are typologically rare. For example, English can express evidentials with an optional adverb, "Allegedly, Annie pulled the trigger." The interlocutor then knows the source of the quotation is from elsewhere, but this is not a quotative reading as there is no direct performative quoting or verbs of saying. Languages including Cusco Quechua, Kham, Tagalog, and Kaalallisut are documented as containing quotative evidentials. In languages with "true" quotative evidentials (which usually introduce quoted statements), it is also possible for them to occur with interrogatives and imperatives, yielding quoted interrogatives and quoted imperatives.[29][43] Similar to quotative particles, quotative evidentials are usuallygrammaticalized from full lexical verbs.[44]
Nhêengatú, a Tupí-Guaranílingua franca of North-West Amazonia, has a reported evidential markerpaá. An example scenario is as follows: X saw John go fishing. Mary then and asks X where John went. X replies "u-sú u-piniatika" (he went fishing). Later, Peter asks Mary where John went. She replies to Peter that she did not see John go herself, but rather heard it from a different source using the evidential marker "u-sú u-piniatikapaá."[45]
u-sú
u-piniatika
paá
u-sú u-piniatikapaá
3SG-go 3SG-fishREP
"He went fishing (they say/I was told)"
Tagalog's quotative evidentials are used with imperative quotations.[29]
Cusco Quechua's quotative evidential comes as a derivation of aclitic,=si, for interrogative quotations.[29]
Inés-qa
Inés-TOP
watuku-sqa
visit-PST
pi-ta=s Inés-qa watuku-sqa
who-ACC=REP Inés-TOP visit-PST
'Someone said: Who did Inés visit?'
Hand gesturing a quotation in a conversation can be done withair quotes.[46]
Direct reported speech purports to give the actual wording of the original, whereasindirect reported speech gives only its content. ...[Note:] Some writers omit the 'reported' and simply talk of 'direct speech' and 'indirect speech', while others restrict the term 'reported speech' to the indirect type; we believe, however, that it is useful to have a term for covering both. Further alternative terms for direct and indirect reported speech are 'oratio recta' and 'oratio obliqua', respectively.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
