Quotatives
New Trends and Sociolinguistic Implications
Language in Society
1. Edition November 2013
328 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Short Description
Quotatives presents an overview of the vast and rapid changes that have taken place in quotative strategies, with a particular focus on the diffusion of innovative variants and the systemic developments which result from the arrival of newcomer forms. Considering the phenomenon "quotation" from a wealth of perspectives, it consolidates findings from different strands of research. While the primary focus of the empirical research is on English, the book also investigates cross-linguistic similarities and differences within this linguistic domain.
Quotatives considers the phenomenon "quotation" from a wealth of perspectives. It consolidates findings from different strands of research, combining formal and functional approaches for the definition of reported discourse and situating the phenomenon in a broader typological and sociolinguistic perspective.
* Provides an interface between sociolinguistic research and other linguistic disciplines, in particular discourse analysis, typology, construction grammar but also more formal approaches
* Incorporates innovative methodology that draws on discourse analytic, typological and sociolinguistic approaches
* Investigates the system both in its diachronic development as well as via cross-variety comparisons
* Presents careful definition of the envelope of variation and considers alternative definitions of the phenomenon "quotation"
* Empirical findings are reported from distribution and perception data, which allows comparing and contrasting perception and reality
List of Figures xi
List of Tables xiii
1 Introduction: What's New about the New Quotatives? 1
The History of Innovative Quotatives 4
Why? 12
2 You Can Quote Me On That: Defining Quotation 34
Defining Quotation 37
Direct versus Indirect Quotes 55
Why Does itMatter? The Ramifications of Variable Definition 64
3 Variation and Change in the Quotative System: The Global versus the Local 89
Tracing the Global Attestation of Innovative Quotatives 90
Investigating Models of Diffusion 93
Investigating the Global Reality of Innovative Quotatives 97
Putting It All Together 134
4 Quotation across the Generations: A Short History of Speech and Thought Reporting 148
Tracing Quotation in Tyneside English across the Past 60 Years 150
Quotations across the Decades: Tracing the Changes in the Variable Grammar 166
How to Create Variability in a Low Entropy System? 183
5 Ideologies and Attitudes to Newcomer Quotatives 198
Don't Sound Stupid, Stop Saying like 198
Language Ideologies: Facts and Fiction 202
Testing Attitudes towards the Innovative Quotatives 207
What Type of Person would use such a Form? Testing Associations with Personality Traits 210
Where do be like and go come from? Investigating the Perceptual Geographies of Innovative Quotatives 221
Social Perceptions Associated with be like and go 227
Youth Inarticulateness and the Pedagogical Debate 234
6 Lessons Learned from Research on Quotation 245
The Innovative Quotatives: A New, Uniform and Unique Phenomenon? 245
The Elephant in the Room: Situating Quotation in Linguistic Modularity 251
Tackling Some Illusions 256
Tracing the Present and Future of Quotative Forms 258
Conclusion 270
Appendix 1 Linear Regression Analysis Investigating the Conditioning Factors on the Quotative System in the US and the UK 278
Appendix 2 Alternative Cross-Tabulations 279
Appendix 3 Social Attitudes Survey 284
Index 295
