Quotation mark, non-English usage

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brackets ( ), [ ], { }, < >
colon ( : )
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ellipsis ( …, ... )
exclamation mark ( ! )
full stop/period ( . )
guillemets ( « » )
hyphen ( -, ‐ )
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quotation marks ( ", ‘ ’, “ ” )
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Uncommon typography

asterism ( ⁂ )
lozenge ( ◊ )
interrobang ( ‽ )
irony mark ( ؟ )
reference mark ( ※ )
sarcasm mark

Quotation marks, also called quotes, speech marks or inverted commas, are punctuation marks used in pairs to set off speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an opening quotation mark and a closing quotation mark, which may or may not be the same character.

They have a variety of forms in different languages and in different media; for usage in the English language see the article Quotation marks

Contents

[edit] Quotation marks in Finnish and Swedish

In Finnish and Swedish, right quotes are used to mark both the beginning and the end of a quote. Double right-pointing angular quotes, »…», can also be used.

An en-dash can also be used to start a quotation. It should then be first on a line and be indented as the first line of a paragraph.

Samples Unicode (decimal) HTML Description
’O’ U+2019 (8217), U+2019 (8217) &rsquo; &rsquo; Single quotes in Swedish and Finnish
”O” U+201D (8221), U+201D (8221) &#8221; &#8221; Double quotes in Swedish and Finnish
– O U+2013 (8211) &ndash; En-dash in Swedish and Finnish

[edit] Quotation marks in Germany and Austria

What is the “left quote” in English is used as the right quote in Germany and Austria, and a different “low 9 quote” is used for the left instead:

Samples Unicode (decimal) HTML Description
‚O‘ U+201A (8218), U+2018 (8216) &sbquo; &lsquo; German single quotes (left and right)
„O“ U+201E (8222), U+201C (8220) &bdquo; &ldquo; German double quotes (left and right)

This style of quoting is also used in Georgian, Estonian, Icelandic, Bulgarian, Serbian and in Russian. In Bulgarian and Russian, single quotation marks are not used.

Sometimes, especially in books, the angle quotation marks (see below) are used in Germany and Austria, albeit in reversed order: »O«. In Switzerland, however, the same quotation marks as in French are used: «O».

[edit] Quotation marks in Polish

Samples Unicode (decimal) HTML Description
‚O’ U+201A (8218), U+2019 (8217) &sbquo; &rsquo; Polish single quotes (left and right)
„O” U+201E (8222), U+201d (8221) &bdquo; &rdquo; Polish double quotes (left and right)

According to current PN-83/P-55366 standard from 1983, Setting rules from composing of Polish texts (Zasady składania tekstów w języku polskim) one can use either „ordinary Polish quotes” or «French quotes» (without space) for first level, and ‚single Polish quotes’ or «French quotes» for second level, which makes three styles of nested quotes:

  1. „Quote ‚inside’ quote”
  2. „Quote «inside» quote”
  3. «Quote ‚inside’ quote»

There is no space on the internal side of quote marks, with the exception of ¼ firet (~ ¼ em) space between two quotation marks when there are no other characters between them (e.g. ,„ and ’”).

The above rules have not changed since at least the previous BN-76/7440-02 standard from 1976 and are probably much older.

In Polish books and publications, the second style is used almost exclusively. In addition to being standard for second level quotes, French quotes are sometimes used as first level quotes in headings and titles but almost never in ordinary text in paragraphs. The second style is also used in Romanian („Quote «inside» quote”), according to the Romanian Academy rules.

[edit] Angled quotation marks in various European languages

Some languages, such as French, or Italian, use angle quotation marks (chevrons or guillemets or duck-foot quotes) and add a quarter-em space (officially) (U+2005, &#8197;) within the quotes. However, virtually all countries that have this rule now use the non-breaking space, because the difference between a non-breaking space and a four-per-em is virtually imperceptible, and the quarter-em is virtually always omitted in non-Unicode fonts. Even more commonly, people just put a normal space between the quotation marks because the non-break is not accessible through their keyboard layout. [Note: full-width non-breaking spaces have been used in examples for technical reasons.]

« Voulez-vous un sandwich, Henri ? »
“Would you like a sandwich, Henri?”

There is no such space in other languages, e.g. Spanish, Catalan, Polish, Russian or in German, French and Italian Switzerland:

«To jest cytat.»
«Это цитата».
“This is a quote.”
Samples Unicode (decimal) HTML Description
‹ O › U+2039 (8249), U+203A (8250) &lsaquo; &rsaquo; French single angle quotes (left and right)
« O » U+00AB (171), U+00BB (187) &laquo; &raquo; French double angle quotes (left and right)
«O» U+00AB (171), U+00BB (187) &laquo; &raquo; non-French double angle quotes (left and right) without space

[edit] French

Unlike English, French does not set off unquoted material within a quotation mark by using a second set of quotes. They must be used with non-breaking spaces. Compare:

“This is a great day for Montrealers,” the minister said. “These investments will permit economic growth.”
« C’est une belle journée pour les Montréalais, soutient le ministre. Ces investissements stimuleront la croissance économique. »

For clarity, some newspapers put the quoted material in italics:

« C’est une belle journée pour les Montréalais, soutient le ministre. Ces investissements stimuleront la croissance économique. »

The use of English quotation marks is increasing in French, and usually follows English rules.

English quotes are also used for nested quotations:

« Son “explication” n’est qu’un mensonge », s’indigna le député.
“His ‘explanation’ is just a lie,” the deputy protested.

The French Imprimerie nationale (cf. Lexique des règles typographiques en usage à l'Imprimerie nationale, presses de l'Imprimerie nationale, Paris, 2002), though, does not use different quotation marks for nesting:

« Son « explication » n’est qu’un mensonge », s’indigna le député.
“His ‘explanation’ is just a lie,” the deputy protested.

In this case, when there should be two adjacent opening or closing marks, only one is written:

Il répondit : « Ce n'est qu'un « gadget ! ».
He answered: “It's only a ‘gizmo’”.

[edit] Spanish

Spanish uses angled quotation marks (comillas latinas or angulares) as well, but always without the spaces.

«Esto es un ejemplo de cómo se suele hacer una cita literal en español».
"This is an example of how one usually writes a literal quotation in Spanish."

And, when quotations are nested in more levels than inner and outer quotation, the system is:

«Antonio me dijo: “Vaya ‘cacharro’ que se ha comprado Julián”».

This system follows the rules laid down in section 5.10 of the orthography guide Ortografía de la lengua española [1] published by the Real Academia Española (RAE).

It is worth noting, however, that—like in French—the use of English quotation marks is increasing in Spanish, and the El País style guide, which is widely followed in Spain, recommends them.

[edit] Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian

In Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian, angled quotation marks are used without spaces. Quoted material inside a quotation is usually set off with the same quotation marks, and if inner and outer quotation marks fall together, one of them is omitted:

«Я слышал, что Вася говорил: «Дураки они!»
‘I heard that Vasya said: “Idiots, all of them!”’

However, style manuals recommend to use different kinds of quotation marks in such cases (cf. Služba russkogo jazyka, No. 62, 15 July 2003):

«Я слышал, что Вася говорил: „Дураки они!“»
‘I heard that Vasya said: “Idiots, all of them!”’

[edit] Dutch and German

Although in general not common in Dutch any more, double angle quotation marks are still used in Dutch government publications.

Double angle quotation marks without spaces are the standard for German printed texts in Switzerland:

Andreas’ Mutter fragte mich: «Hast du den Artikel ‹EU-Erweiterung› gelesen?»
Andrew’s mother asked me: ‘Have you read the article “EU Enlargement”?’

Sometimes, angle quotation marks are also used in German publications from Germany and Austria, especially in novels, but then exactly reversed and without spacing:

Andreas’ Mutter fragte mich: »Hast du den Artikel ›EU-Erweiterung‹ gelesen?«
Andrew’s mother asked me: ‘Have you read the article “EU Enlargement”?’

[edit] Quotation dash

Another typographical style is to omit quotation marks for lines of dialogue, replacing them with an initial dash:

― Je m’ennuie tellement, dit-elle.
― Cela n’est pas de ma faute, retorqua-t-il.
“I’m so bored,” she said.
“That’s not my fault,” he shot back.

This style is particularly common in French. James Joyce always insisted on this style, although his publishers did not always respect his preference. Alan Paton used this style in Cry, the Beloved Country (and no quotation marks at all in some of his later work).

In Italian, Catalan, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Bulgarian, Georgian, Romanian and Hungarian publications, a second dash is added, if the main sentence continues after the end of the quote:

― Aborreço-me tanto ― disse ela.
― Não tenho culpa disso ― retorquiu ele.
“I’m so bored,” she said.
“That’s not my fault,” he shot back.

Sometimes (always, in Bulgarian, Georgian, Hungarian, Polish, and Russian) a second dash is used to indicate the end of the quoted speech:

― Ай, ай, ай! ― вскрикнул Левин. ― Я ведь, кажется, уже лет девять не говел. Я и не подумал.
― Хорош! ― смеясь, сказал Степан Аркадевич, ― а меня же называешь нигилистом! Однако ведь это нельзя. Тебе надо говеть.
“Oh dear!” exclaimed Levin. “I think it is nine years since I went to communion! I haven’t thought about it.”
“You are a good one!” remarked Oblonsky, laughing. “And you call me a Nihilist! But it won’t do, you know; you must confess and receive the sacrament.”
from Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (Louise and Aylmer Maude translation)

According to the Unicode standard, U+2015 HORIZONTAL BAR should be used as a quotation dash. In general it is the same length as an em-dash, and so this is often used instead. Both are displayed in the table below.

Samples Unicode (decimal) HTML Description
― O U+2015 (8213) &#8213; Quotation dash, also known as horizontal bar
— O U+2014 (8212) &mdash; Em-dash, an alternative to the quotation dash

[edit] Corner brackets in East Asian languages

Corner brackets are well-suited for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages which are written in both vertical and horizontal orientations. China, South Korea, and Japan all use corner brackets when writing vertically, however usages differ when writing horizontally:

White corner brackets are used to mark quote-within-quote segments.

Samples Unicode (decimal) Description
「文字」 U+300C (12300), U+300D (12301) Corner brackets

Chinese: 引號 (yǐn hào)
Japanese: 鉤括弧 (kagikakko)
﹁
文
字
﹂		 U+FE41 (65089), U+FE42 (65090)
『文字』 U+300E (12302), U+300F (12303) White corner brackets

Chinese: 雙引號 (shuāng yǐn hào)
Japanese: 二重鉤括弧 (nijū kagikakko)
﹃
文
字
﹄		 U+FE43 (65091), U+FE44 (65092)
“한” U+201C (8220), U+201D (8221) English-style quotes Korean (South Korea)
«한» U+00AB (171), U+00BB (187) Angle quotes Korean (North Korea)

[edit] Overview

Quote signs in several languages
Language Standard Alternative Spacing
primary secondary primary secondary
Afrikaans „…” ‚…’ [1]
Albanian «…» ‹…› “…„ ‘…‚
Belarusian «…» „…“
Bulgarian [2] „…“ «…» [3]
Catalan [2] «…» “…” “…” ‘…’ 0 pt
Chinese, Simplified “…” ‘…’
Chinese, Traditional 「…」 『…』 [4] “…” ‘…’
Croatian »…« ‘…’ „…“
Czech „…“ ‚…‘ »…« ›…‹
Danish »…« ›…‹ „…“
or ”…”		 ‚…‘
Dutch „…” ‚…’ “…” ’…’
English, UK ‘…’ “…” [5] 1–2 pt
English, U.S. “…” ‘…’ [5] 1–2 pt
Estonian „…“ «…»
Finnish ”…” ’…’ »…» ’…’
French [2] « … » « … » or “…”[6] [3] “ … ” ‘ … ’ ¼-em / non-break
French, Swiss [7] «…» ‹…›
German „…“ ‚…‘ »…« ›…‹
German, Swiss [7] «…» ‹…›
Greek «…» ‹…› “…„ ‘…‚ 1 pt
Hungarian „…” »…«
Hebrew “…” «…» [1] “…„
Icelandic „…“
Irish “…” ‘…’ 1–2 pt
Italian [2] «…» “…” ‘…’ 1–2 pt
Italian, Swiss [7] «…» ‹…›
Japanese 「…」 『…』 [4]
Latvian «…» „…”
Lithuanian „…“ ‚…‘ «…» ‹…›
Norwegian «…» ‘…’ „…” ‘…’ [8]
Polish [9] „…” ‚…’ [3] «…» [10]
Portuguese «…» or “…” “…” or ‘…’ 0–1 pt
Romanian [2] „…” «…» «…» „…”
Russian [2] «…» „…“
Serbian „…“ ‚…‘ »…« ›…‹
Slovak „…“ ‚…‘ »…« ›…‹
Slovene „…“ ‚…‘ »…« ›…‹
Sorbian „…“ ‚…‘
Spanish [2] «…» “…” “…” ‘…’ [11] 0 pt
Swedish ”…” ’…’ »…» ’…’
Turkish «…» ‹…› “…” ‘…’ 0–1 pt
Ukrainian «…» „…“

For quotations that span multiple paragraphs, besides the opening quotation mark in the first paragraph and the closing quotation mark at the end of the quotation:

Quote signs in several languages
Style Signs Languages
Corner
brackets		 『…』 Traditional Chinese, Japanese
「…」 Traditional Chinese, Japanese
Double
quote		 „…“ Belarusian, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Estonian, German, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Sorbian, Ukrainian
„…” Afrikaans, Croatian, Dutch, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian
”…” (Danish), Finnish, Swedish
“…” Catalan, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Dutch, English, French, Hebrew, Irish, Italian, Korean (South Korea), Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish
“…„ Albanian, Greek, Hebrew
Single
quote		 ‚…‘ Czech, Danish, German, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Sorbian
‚…’ Afrikaans, Dutch, Polish, Romanian
’…’ Dutch, Finnish, Swedish
‘…’ Catalan, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, English, French, Irish, Italian, Turkish
‘…‚ Albanian, Greek
Double
angled		 «…» Albanian, Belarusian, Catalan, Estonian, French, Swiss (French, German, Italian), Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Korean (North Korea), Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Catalan
»…« Croatian, Czech, Danish, German, Hungarian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene
»…» Finnish, Swedish
Single
angled		 ‹…› Albanian, French, Swiss (French, German, Italian), Greek, Lithuanian, Turkish
›…‹ Czech, Danish, German, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene
›…› Swedish

[edit] Names for quotation marks

[edit] Double quotation mark

  • English: quotation mark, double quote, quote, dirk, double mark, literal mark, double-glitch, inverted commas, speech mark
  • Afrikaans: aanhalingstekens
  • Belarusian: двукоссі (‘double commas’), лапкі (‘little paws’)
  • Bulgarian: кавички
  • Catalan: cometes
  • Chinese: 雙引號 / 双引号
  • Croatian: navodnici
  • Czech: uvozovka (singular), uvozovky (plural) (cf. uvozovat = ‘to introduce’)
  • Danish: citationstegn (‘citation marks’), anførselstegn, gåseøjne (‘goose eyes’)
  • Dutch: Aanhalingstekens (‘citation marks’)
  • Esperanto: citiloj
  • Estonian: jutumärgid
  • Finnish: lainausmerkki (‘citation mark,’ singular), lainausmerkit (plural)
  • French: guillemets
  • German: Anführungszeichen, Gänsefüßchen (‘little goose feet’), Hochkommas/Hochkommata (‘high commas’)
  • Greek: εισαγωγικά, (‘introductions’)
  • Hebrew: merkha'ot — מֵרְכָאוֹת‎ (plural of merkha — מֵרְכָא‎); a similar punctuation mark unique to Hebrew is called gershayim — גרשיים‎
  • Hungarian: macskaköröm (‘cat claw’), idézőjel (‘quotation mark’=„ ”), hegyével befelé forduló jelpár (» «)
  • Icelandic: Gæsalappir (‘goose feet’)
  • Italian: virgolette
  • Japanese: 引用符 (in'yōfu)
  • Korean: 이중 따옴표 (“ee joong Ddaompyo”)
  • Latvian: pēdiņas
  • Lithuanian: kabutės
  • Norwegian: anførselstegn, gåseauge/gåseøyne (‘goose eyes’), hermeteikn/hermetegn, sittatteikn/sitattegn, dobbeltfnutt
  • Polish: cudzysłów
  • Portuguese: aspas (plural)
  • Romanian: ghilimele (plural), ghilimea (singular, rarely used)
  • Russian: кавычки (kavychki, general term); ёлочки (yolochki, ‘little fir trees’: angle quotes); лапочки or лапки (lapochki or lapki, ‘little paws’: curly quotes)
  • Serbian: наводници
  • Spanish: comillas latinas or comillas angulares (« »), comillas inglesas dobles (“ ”), comillas inglesas simples (‘ ’). ‹ and › are never used in Spanish.
  • Swedish: citationstecken, anföringstecken, citattecken (modernised term), dubbelfnutt (colloquial for ASCII double quote)
  • Turkish: Tırnak İşareti ('fingernail mark')
  • Ukrainian: лапки (lapky, ‘little paws’), скупки (skupky, ‘aggregators’)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Traditional
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Quotation dash preferred for dialogue
  3. ^ a b c Rare
  4. ^ a b These forms are rotated for use in horizontal text; they were originally written ﹁...﹂ and ﹃...﹄ in vertical text
  5. ^ a b An opening quotation mark is added to the beginning of each new paragraph.
  6. ^ First version according to the French Imprimerie nationale. English quotes are more common, though.
  7. ^ a b c In Switzerland the same style is used for all languages.
  8. ^ Handwriting.
  9. ^ Preferred for headings and other texts in larger font sizes
  10. ^ May substitue for either the opening or closing mark
  11. ^ A closing quotation mark is added to the beginning of each new paragraph.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.

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