How quotation marks what people do with words

Journal of Pragmatics 43 (10):2650-2663 (2011)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Most existing theories of quotation are restricted, sometimes implicitly, to certain aspects of quotation mark usage. In this paper, we have the somewhat ambitious aim of outlining an all-encompassing theory of quotation in (written) natural language. We first provide a naïve but neutral definition of quotation – quotation is everything between a pair of quotation marks – followed by a brief typology. Then, we develop an account of quotation which relies mainly on pragmatic mechanisms in order to explain what role quotation marks play in achieving communicative ends of writers. Quotation marks, we argue, are best understood as minimal pragmatic markers that block the stereotypical interpretation of the expression they enclose. They thereby indicate that some alternative interpretation ought to be inferred. We then address some worries about our view in order to clarify the aim and scope of our proposal as well as some deep-rooted philosophical preconceptions about quotation. Finally, we present the results of a small corpus study which we consider a confirmation of the predictions our account makes.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,118

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Open quotation.François Recanati - 2001 - Mind 110 (439):637-687.
Breaking Quotations.Emar Maier - 2008 - In Satoh et al (ed.), New Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence. Springer. pp. 187-200.
Zitierte Zeichenreihen.Olaf Müller - 1996 - Erkenntnis 44 (3):279 - 304.
Quotation.Jonathan Bennett - 1988 - Noûs 22 (3):399-418.
The character of quotation.Chung-Chieh Shan - 2010 - Linguistics and Philosophy 33 (5):417-443.
Varieties of Quotation.Herman Cappelen & Ernie Lepore - 1997 - Mind 106 (423):429-450.
Understanding Mixed Quotation.Mark McCullagh - 2007 - Mind 116 (464):927-946.
Varieties of Quotation Revisited.Herman Cappelen & Ernie Lepore - 2003 - Belgian Journal of Linguistics (17):51-75.
Scare quotes and their relation to other semantic issues.Stefano Predelli - 2003 - Linguistics and Philosophy 26 (1):1-28.
Quotation in Context.Bart Geurts & Emar Maier - 2005 - In Philippe de Brabanter (ed.), Hybrid Quotations. John Benjamins. pp. 109-28.
Quotation and Conceptions of Language.Paul Saka - 2011 - Dialectica 65 (2):205-220.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-04-27

Downloads
59 (#242,874)

6 months
2 (#661,157)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references