Stylistic classification of the english vocabulary

d) Quotations

A quotation is a repetition of a phrase or statement from a book, speech and the like.

By repeating a passage in a new environment, we attach to the utterance an importance which does not exist in the context. What is quoted must be worth quoting, since a quotation will inevitably acquire some degree of generalization. If repeated frequently, it may be recog­nized as an epigram, if, of course, it has some of the lin­guistic properties of the latter.

Quotations are usually marked off in the text by inverted commas (" "), dashes ( - ), italics or other graphical means.

They are mostly used accompanied by a reference to the author of the quotation, unless he is well-known to the reader or audience. The reference is made either in the text or in a foot-note and assumes various forms, as for instance: "As (so and so) has it"; "(So and so) once said that"...; "Here we quote (so and so)".

A quotation is the exact reproduction of an actual utterance made by a certain author.

Utterances, when quoted, undergo a peculiar change. They are rank and file members of the text they belong to, merging with other sentences in the text in the most natural and organic way; when they are quoted, their significance is heightened and they become different from other parts of the text.

A quotation is always set against the other sentences in the text by its greater volume of sense and significance. The use of quotations presupposes a good knowledge of the past experience of the nation, its literature and culture.

The stylistic value of a quotation lies mainly in the fact that it comprises two meanings: the primary mea­ning, the one which it has in its original surroundings, and the applicative meaning, i.e. the one which it acquires in the new context.

Quotations, unlike epigrams, need not necessarily be short. A whole paragraph or a long passage may be quoted if it suits the purpose.

There is an example of the use of a quotation:

Socrates said, our only knowledge was

"To know that nothing could be known" a pleasant

Science enough, which levels to an ass

Each man of Wisdom, future, past or present.

(Byron)

Quotations are used as a stylistic device with the aim of expanding the meaning of the sentence quoted and setting two meanings one against the other, thus modi­fying the original meaning. In this quality they are used mostly in the belles-lettres style. Quotations used in other styles of speech allow no modifications of meaning.

Quotations are also used in epigraphs. The quotation in this case possesses great associative power and calls forth much connotative meaning.