Quotation

1. How to Ch aracterize Quotation

Problems arise right at the outset since quotation is not an easything to characterize. We start with reflections on how one might try to do so.1.1 Quotation Identified Through Examples

There’s an easy and relatively non-controversial way toidentify quotation: it is the sort of linguisticphenomenon exemplified by the subject in (4) and the directobject[2]in (5); these are instances of pure and directquotation, respectively.(5)Quine said, ‘Quotation has a certain anomalous feature’.

That leaves open the question of which semantic and syntactic devicesbelong to that sort. Any characterization of a more specific nature,either of a syntactic or a semantic sort, moves into controversialterritory immediately.1.2 Quotation Identified Syntactically

A syntactic characterization might go something like this:Take two quotation marks— single apostrophes in Britain,double in the United States, double angles in parts of Europe —and put, for example, a letter, a word, or a sentence between the two.What results is a quotation, as in (4)–(5). But then considerthe following sentences:(6)My name is Donald.(7)Bachelor has eight letters.

We can see there are two problems with the syntacticcharacterization:In spoken language, no obvious correlates of quotation marksexist. Spoken utterances of (6) seem often tobe unaccompanied by lexical items corresponding to‘quote/unquote’.Even if attention is restricted to written language, quotation isnot invariably indicated by the use of quotation marks. Sometimes, forexample, italicization is used instead, as in (7).

Other devices employed as substitutes for quotation marks include boldface, indentation, and line indentation (cf. Quine 1940, pp. 23–24;Geach 1957, p. 82). There’s no clear limit on the range of distinctwritten options, other than that they are used as quotation marks, butthis renders the syntactic characterization incomplete, and thus,unsatisfactory.1.3 Quotation Identified Semantically

Another tempting strategy is to say that an expression is quoted ifit is mentioned. There are two problems with thischaracterization.Several theorists want to distinguish between mention and quotation(see Section 3.5).This definition would rule their theories out by stipulation.This characterization is no clearer than the intuitive distinctionbetween use and mention, and matters become even more complicated assoon as we do try to characterize ‘mention’ and‘use’. Isn’t ‘bachelor’ in (4) in some senseused to refer to itself? If the response is that it is used, but not withits normal semantic value, then we are left with the challenge ofdefining ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ semanticvalues. That, again, leads immediately to controversy.

In order to remain as neutral as possible, we will stick with asimple identification-through-examples strategy, and emphasize that itis an open question as to how to identify the sort of linguisticdevices to which the subject in (4) belongs.2. Basic Quotational Features

Quotation is a subject matter that brings together a ratherspectacular array of linguistic and semantic issues. Here are six basicquotational features of particular importance (BQ1–BQ6, for short) thatwill guide our search for an adequate account:

BQ1. In quotation you cannot substituteco-referential or synonymous terms salva veritate.

An inference from (4) to (8), for example, fails to preservetruth-value.(4)‘Bachelor’ has eight letters(8)‘Unmarried man’ has eight letters

No theory of quotation is adequate unless it explains this feature(and no theory of opacity is complete before it explains why quotationhas this feature).

BQ2. It is not possible to quantify intoquotation.

(9), for example, does not follow from (4):(9)(∃x)(‘x’ has eight letters)

An adequate theory of quotation must explain why not. The product ofquoting ‘x’ is an expression that refers to the24th letter of the Roman alphabet. The point is thatquotation marks, at least in natural language, cannot be quantifiedinto because they trap the variable; what results is a quotation thatrefers to that very variable.

BQ3. Quotation can be used to introduce novelwords, symbols and alphabets; it is not limited to the extant lexiconof any one language.

Both (10) and (11) are true English sentences:(10)‘Φ’ is not a part of any English expression.(11)‘❦’ is not an expression in any natural language.

An adequate theory of quotation must explain what makes thispractice possible.

BQ4. There’s a particularly close relationshipbetween quotations and their semantic values.

“lobsters” and its semantic value are more intimatelyrelated than ‘lobster’ and its semantic value, i.e., therelationship between “lobster” and ‘lobster’is closer than that which obtains between ‘lobsters’ andlobsters. Whereas the quotation (i.e., “lobster”), in someway to be further explained, has its referent (i.e.,‘lobster’) contained in it, the semantic value of‘lobsters’, i.e., lobsters, are not contained in‘lobster’. One way to put it is that an expression e isin the quotation of e. No matter how one chooses to spellthis out, any theory of quotation must explain this relationship.

BQ5. To understand quotation is to have aninfinite capacity, a capacity to understand and generate a potentialinfinity of new quotations.

We don’t learn quotations one by one. Never having encountered thequotation in (10) or (11) does nothing to prohibit comprehending them(Christensen 1967, p. 362) and identifying their semantic values.

Similarly, there doesn’t seem to be any upper bound on aspeaker’s ability to generate novel quotations. One naturalexplanation for this is that quotation is a productive devicein natural language.

BQ6. Quoted words can be simultaneously usedand mentioned.

This is an important observation due to Davidson, as exemplified in(12).[3](12)Quine said that quotation ‘has a certain anomalous feature’.

(12) is called a ‘mixed quotation’. This is because itmixes the direct quotation (as in (5)) and indirect (as in (13)).(5)Quine said ‘Quotation has a certain anomalous feature’.(13)Quine said that quotation has a certain anomalous feature.

In this regard, the quotation in (12) is, in an intuitive sense,simultaneously used and mentioned. It is used to say what Quine said(viz. that quotation has a certain anomalous feature), andalso to say that Quine used the words ‘has a certain anomalousfeature’ in saying it.

Mixed quotation had not been much discussed prior to Davidson (1979)but it has recently taken center stage in discussions of theories ofquotation. For those who believe themselves unfamiliar with the data,we point out that mixed quotation is one of the mostfrequently used forms of quotation. Casually peruse any newspaper and you will find passages like the following from the New York Times:NYT Dec 7, 2004: The court ruled that the sentence wasinvalid because the document signed into law by President Bill Clintoncontained a phrase that was illogical. The law said that defendantslike Mr. Pabon, who was convicted two years ago of advertising toreceive or distribute child pornography over the Internet, should befined or receive a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years ‘andboth.’ The appeals court said this language ‘makes nosense.’

In the 21st century, mixed quotation has become one of the centraltopics in the theory of quotation: a range of interesting data hasbeen brought to light and a flurry of theories have beendefended. In Section 4 below we introduce some of thedata.

In what follows we will refer back to these six features and makethe following assumption:

It is a necessary adequacy condition on a theory of quotation that iteither explains how quotations can exhibit features (BQ1)–(BQ6),or, if it fails to do so, then it must present an argument for why anyunexplained feature doesn’t require explanation.

Before going on, an important note: quotation, perhaps more than any other area of language, is difficult because not only is there no consensus about what the correct theory is, but there’s also basic disagreements about the space of options, and about the data to be accounted for. We’ll see this below, but it’s important to bear in mind that when it comes to quotation, the consensus is that there’s no consensus, and disagreement is the norm.2.1 Guiding Questions for Theories of Quotation

BQ1–BQ6 play an important role because theories of quotation areattempts to answer certain questions, and those questions won’t havesatisfactory answers unless BQ1–BQ6 are accounted for. Three questionscan be thought of as the guiding questions for a theory ofquotation: