Direct quotation

Direct quotes are actually not complements at all. As Weber (1989:20) points out (speaking of Huallaga Quechua), “Direct quotations are embedded in, but not subordinate to, the. . .clause that frames them.” And: “they bear no grammatical relation (e.g. subject, object, etc.) to any verb. ”A direct quotation is, in fact, a separated is course, and may contain any amount of linguistic material from a single word to an entire story.

Haiman (1992) states: “It has been widely noted that quoted material is grammatically independent” of the matrix clause. For example, even though the quote formula in English of ten contains the transitive verb say, the quote itself does not behave like a normal direct object. In(24a) the object of say has been fronted with subject–Aux inversion; but this construction is impossible with a direct quote (24b).

(24) a Not a word did she say.

        b “Not a word,” she said/ *did she say.

Haiman uses the examples in (25) to illustrate the principle that quoted words are “mentioned” rather than “used.”

(25) a I don’t like myself.

        b I don’t like “I” in essays.

The first-person pronoun which appears as the direct object in (25a) is used in the normal way, to refer to the speaker. Since it is co-referential with the subject of its clause, a reflexive form (myself) must be used. The quoted pronoun “I” in(25b) does not appear in the reflexive, or even the accusative (me), because it is not being used as a pronoun at all; it refers to a word (I) rather than a person (the speaker). When we use a direct quote, we are reporting the linguistic expressions used by a speaker, rather than the content or message which the speaker expressed. As a result, there is generally no grammatical linkage between our words (the quote formula) and the speaker’s words (the quotation).

While many languages (including English) use verbs of speaking in the quote formula, this is not always the case. In Kimaragang Dusun, a quote formula need not contain any verb at all, but almost always contains a quotative particle kah. This particle is neither a verb nor a noun: it is only one syllable long, whereas the minimum length for a content word in Kimaragang is two syllables; it cannot take any verbal affixes; and it ends in an–h (indicating lack of a final glottal stop), which is exceedingly rare for content words but quite common among discourse particles and other functors.

The speaker may be indicated by a genitive NP or pronoun following the quote particle, as illustrated in (26). Only in clauses (b) and (d) does the quote formula contain a verb; in both cases the verb is simbar ‘answer,’ though, of course, many other verbs of speaking are possible. This passage is an excerpt from a story about the Roc, or Bird of Vishnu (Malay: Garuda), who abducts a woman to keep her from marrying her suitor.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

العتبة العباسية المقدسة تعلن أسماء الفائزين بمسابقة الذكرى الميمونة لولادة الإمام الحسين (عليه السلام)

شعبة الخطابة النسوية تستعد لإطلاق مسابقة (سبيل المنتظرين) بنسختها الثالثة

قسم الشؤون الفكرية يقدّم محاضرتين توعويتين لطلبة جامعة المنارة في ميسان

سماحة السيد الصافي يؤكّد أن القرآن عظّم شخصية النبي (صلّى الله عليه وآله) وكشف زيف ما أُلصِق بسيرته

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

دراسة: محاولة متعمدة لنشر الإنفلونزا تنتهي بـ"مفاجأة"

من خبير في هارفارد.. 6 نصائح يومية "فعالة" لإبطاء الشيخوخة

7 مشروبات طبيعية لتقوية الذاكرة وزيادة التركيز

عرض شائع على الأصابع.. قد يكشف سرطان الرئة مبكرا

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

وسائل التواصل بين الإفراط والامتناع.. ما هو الحد الآمن للمراهقين؟

أعمق خندق في الكوكب الارض !

روساتوم: روسيا تقترب من تطوير ساعات ذرية فائقة الدقة

مفاجأة علمية عن الإنجاب.. كم طفلا يطيل عمر المرأة؟

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Indirect quotation

Direct vs. indirect speech