Didn’t she say to you, “Oh my God! In Pafos?”: Hypothetical quotations in everyday conversation
Abstract
This study examines the linguistic and discursive format as well as the functions of hypothetical quotations in everyday, informal conversations amongst Greek Cypriot friends. Drawing from a dataset of 270 minutes of naturally-occurring conversations, this study documents the linguistic format of sixty-one hypothetical quotations and examines why speakers resort to formulating such quotations to begin with. To do so, Goffman’s (1981) work on footing and participation framework is employed along with an analysis of these quotations in interaction following the work of Goodwin (2007). This study shows that most instances of hypothetical quotations are formulated as direct quotations. There can be both self- and other-quotations, and the quotative can take various forms. Hypothetical quotations serve an array of discursive functions, such as showing the listener’s involvement in an interaction, creating humour, supporting one’s argument or refuting the argument of the other, in line with other studies in the literature.
Publication history
Table of contents
Quotations are an indispensable part of oral communication: “[e]very conversation is full of transmissions and interpretations of other people’s words” (Bakhtin 1981, 228). They can give a narration vividness and dramatization (Archakis and Papazachariou 2008; Tannen 1986), make a story more believable (Mayes 1990), serve as evaluative devices (Labov 1972), evidentials (Holt 2000; Myers 1999), and a way to provide assessment in advice-giving sequences (Park 2018; Sandlund 2014). They also create interpersonal involvement (Tannen 2007), give access to people’s mental state (Pascual and Królak 2018), are a way to co-construct stories (Sams 2010), and act as an argumentative device (Golato 2012; Weiss 2020).
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