The semantics and pragmatics of impure direct/mixed quotation

Luigi Pavone

doi:10.1515/ip-2023-3002

Article

The semantics and pragmatics of impure direct/mixed quotation

Luigi Pavone is a PhD in philosophy of language and mind. He is a faculty member at the University of Palermo. His main areas of research include natural language semantics, philosophy of logic and analytic ontology. He is the author of several articles published in various academic journals, among them Logic and Logical Philosophy, Croatian Journal of Philosophy.

Published/Copyright: June 2, 2023

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From the journal Intercultural Pragmatics Volume 20 Issue 3

Abstract

This paper argues that impure direct/mixed quotation – that is, translated (or repaired, improved) direct or mixed quotation – has something interesting to tell us about how quotations ordinarily function. It forces us to focus on two general quotational features. (i) Quotation is not a purely verbal phenomenon, its intuitive content exceeds the limits of what is linguistically articulated; (ii) it presupposes a cooperation between two human beings: the quoter, who performs a quotation, and the addressee of that quotation. In the framework of an inscriptional analysis of direct and mixed quotation, inspired by Goodman’s approach to pure quotation, such a cooperation is described in terms of a pragmatic process of specification of the conventional meaning of a quotation, which consists of interpreting ostensively defined quotation predicates.

Keywords: impure quotation; mixed quotation; ostensive definition; pragmatic intrusion; reporting speech

Corresponding author: Luigi Pavone, University of Palermo, Palermo, Pa, Italy, E-mail: luigi_pavone@outlook.com

About the author

Luigi Pavone

Luigi Pavone is a PhD in philosophy of language and mind. He is a faculty member at the University of Palermo. His main areas of research include natural language semantics, philosophy of logic and analytic ontology. He is the author of several articles published in various academic journals, among them Logic and Logical Philosophy, Croatian Journal of Philosophy.

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Published Online: 2023-06-02

Published in Print: 2023-06-27

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2023-3002

Keywords for this article

impure quotation; mixed quotation; ostensive definition; pragmatic intrusion; reporting speech