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The character of quotation

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Abstract

This paper presents syntactic and semantic rules for a fragment of English with mixed quotation. The fragment shows that quotation has a recursive and compositional structure. Quoted expressions turn out to denote characters, so the semantics of quotation simulates the pragmatics of speech, including dependence on utterance contexts and reference to mental entities. The analysis also accommodates varieties of unquotation, pure quotation, and causal reference.

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  1. Rutgers University, 110 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854-8019, USA

    Chung-chieh Shan

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Shan, Cc. The character of quotation. Linguist and Philos 33, 417–443 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-011-9085-6

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