Quoting Nothing

This paper argues that the practice of employing bare pairs of quotation marks to represent the empty string in formal linguistics and computer science is well-founded in the implicit conventions governing the use of quotation marks in natural language. In the framework of the Inscriptional Theor...

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Main Author: Pavone, Luigi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari 2024-12-01
Series:JoLMA
Subjects:
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.30687/Jolma/2723-9640/2024/03/004
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author Pavone, Luigi
author_facet Pavone, Luigi
author_sort Pavone, Luigi
collection DOAJ
description This paper argues that the practice of employing bare pairs of quotation marks to represent the empty string in formal linguistics and computer science is well-founded in the implicit conventions governing the use of quotation marks in natural language. In the framework of the Inscriptional Theory of Quotation (ITQ), it is argued that sentences containing empty quotation (i.e., empty quotational sentences) are grammatical and meaningful. Furthermore, the notion of an empty string is employed in the analysis of reported speech to provide a unified account that identifies mixed quotation as the primary form of reported speech.
format Article
id doaj-art-d40eb424db77448f8f8850f2cb455b8e
institution DOAJ
issn 2723-9640
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari
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spelling doaj-art-d40eb424db77448f8f8850f2cb455b8e2025-08-20T02:48:49ZengFondazione Università Ca’ FoscariJoLMA2723-96402024-12-015210.30687/Jolma/2723-9640/2024/03/004journal_article_20183Quoting NothingPavone, Luigi0Università di Verona This paper argues that the practice of employing bare pairs of quotation marks to represent the empty string in formal linguistics and computer science is well-founded in the implicit conventions governing the use of quotation marks in natural language. In the framework of the Inscriptional Theory of Quotation (ITQ), it is argued that sentences containing empty quotation (i.e., empty quotational sentences) are grammatical and meaningful. Furthermore, the notion of an empty string is employed in the analysis of reported speech to provide a unified account that identifies mixed quotation as the primary form of reported speech. http://doi.org/10.30687/Jolma/2723-9640/2024/03/004Empty quotation. Empty string. Mixed quotation. Ostensive definition. Reported speech
spellingShingle Pavone, Luigi
Quoting Nothing
JoLMA
Empty quotation. Empty string. Mixed quotation. Ostensive definition. Reported speech
title Quoting Nothing
title_full Quoting Nothing
title_fullStr Quoting Nothing
title_full_unstemmed Quoting Nothing
title_short Quoting Nothing
title_sort quoting nothing
topic Empty quotation. Empty string. Mixed quotation. Ostensive definition. Reported speech
url http://doi.org/10.30687/Jolma/2723-9640/2024/03/004
work_keys_str_mv AT pavoneluigi quotingnothing