Getting a precise and accurate understanding of the mechanism of quotation is broadly important to contemporary philosophy, impacting on numerous research areas, and it’s deeply important, being foundational to truth-theoretic semantics (Saka 1998, 1991). It is gratifying, therefore, to see an upsurge in quotation studies that includes at least nine doctoral dissertations in the past fifteen ye...

The issues addressed in philosophical papers on quotation generally concern only a particular type of quotation, which I call ‘closed quotation’. The other main type, ‘open quotation’, is ignored, and this neglect leads to bad theorizing. Not only is a general theory of quotation out of reach: the specific phenomenon of closed quotation itself cannot be properly understood if it is not appropri...

Quotation marks are ambiguous, although the conventional rules that govern their different uses are similar in that they contain quantifications over quotable expressions. Pure uses are governed by a simple rule: by enclosing any expression within quotation marks one gets a singular term, the quotation, that stands for the enclosed expression. Impure uses are far less simple. In a series of use...

We discuss two kinds of quotation, namely indirect quotation (e.g., ‘Anita said that Mexico is beautiful’) and pure quotation (e.g., ‘Mexico’ has six letters). With respect to each, we have both a negative and a positive plaint. The negative plaint is that the strict Davidsonian (1968, 1979a) treatment of indirect and pure quotation cannot be correct. The positive plaint is an alternative accou...

This paper offers support for, and modification of, Recanati’s distinction between open and closed quotation. It also points out two unresolved issues associated with quotation: the problem of reference to meaning, and a new category, tentatively named “noncitational quotation”.

This paper offers support for, and modification of, Recanati’s distinction between open and closed quotation. It also points out two unresolved issues associated with quotation: the problem of reference to meaning, and a new category, tentatively named “noncitational quotation”.