A quotation or quote is the repetition of a sentence, phrase, or passage from speech or text that someone has said or written. 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 special prosody in addition to quotative markers. In written text, quotations are signaled by quotation marks. Quotations are also used to present well-known statement parts that are explicitly attributed by citation to their original source; such statements are marked with (punctuated with) quotation marks.
As a form of transcription, direct or quoted speech is spoken or written text that reports speech or thought in its original form phrased by the original speaker. In narrative, it is usually enclosed in quotation marks,
Direct speech and indirect speech can also refer to the difference between speech acts where the illocutionary 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?"
:He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. "And just what pleasure have I found since I came into this world?" he asked.
- Reported or normal indirect speech:
:He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. He asked himself what pleasure he had found since he came into the world.
- Free indirect speech:
:He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. And just what pleasure had he found since he came into this world?
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.
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.
As a literary device
A quotation can also refer to the repeated use of units of any other form of expression, especially parts of artistic works: elements of a painting, scenes from a movie or sections from a musical composition.
Reasons for using
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 or author, to make the user of the quotation seem well-read, and/or to comply with copyright law. 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.
Common sources
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, The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, The Yale Book of Quotations and The Macmillan 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.
Misquotations
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 are Winston Churchill, to whom many political quotations of uncertain origin are attributed, and Oscar Wilde, to whom anonymous humorous quotations are sometimes attributed.
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. The Star 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 to Jack Webb's character of Joe Friday on Dragnet), "Heavy lies the crown" from Shakespeare's Play Henry IV, Part 2, "Elementary, my dear Watson" (attributed to Sherlock Holmes; it was, however, said in the films The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Return of Sherlock Holmes), "Luke, I am your father" (attributed to Darth Vader in Star Wars), "Play it again, Sam" (attributed to Ilsa in Casablanca), "Do you feel lucky, punk?" (attributed to Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry) and "We don't need no stinkin' badges!" (attributed to Gold Hat in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre).
Quotative inversion
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's subject. Subject-verb inversion occurs most often in written works, being rare in speech. Quotations may appear before the inverted verb, but can also appear after the subject, such as: "I am going to follow you all the rest of my life," declared the man It serves to evoke various emotional and rhetorical effects, mainly to draw extra attention from the reader or listener. 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.
Syntax
In syntactic terms, these direct quotations can be presented in two forms. The first is as the complement of a quotative verb (e.g. Marie said: "My brother has arrived"), and the second being as a head clause with a quotative adjunct (e.g. "My brother has arrived", Marie announces). Additionally, noun phrases are not permitted in addition to the subject when inversion takes place. - <small>Verb-subject order</small>
:::"No, he is not a gnome", corrects the old man.
:: b. *«No, no es un enanito», el viejo rectifica. - <small>Subject-verb order unlikely for introducing quotations</small>
:::"No, he is not a gnome", the old man corrects.
Brackets in quotes in English language
Brackets are used to indicate an addition or a modification from the original quote. Various uses of brackets in quotes are:
- Clarification ("She [Michelle] is an expert in botany.")
- Change in capitalization ("[a]ccording to this article, this is untrue.")
- Translation ("Hola, soy Brandon [Hello, I am Brandon].")
When "[sic]" is added, it means that errors are present in the original text. For example,
"Domestic cats are valued by hoomans for companionship."
In spoken discourse
Traditionally, quotations—more specifically known as direct quotations
Both direct and indirect quotations in spoken discourse are not intended to be verbatim 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 a sociolinguistic 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". Indirect quotations are simply paraphrases of something that a reporting speaker heard.
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. For example, Japanese uses the quotative particle (a type of quotative marker) to along with the conjugated verb of saying itta: