In examining the phenomenon of quoting from multiple angles The Pragmatics of Quoting Now and
Then offers a fresh view on the forms functions and usage of quoting as a meta-communicative
act in various forms of old (printed) and new (electronically mediated) communication setting
it apart from (seemingly) related acts like repeating or referring. Recent interest in the
formal (copy-paste quoting) and ethical (quoting as plagiarizing) aspects of quoting has been
gaining considerable momentum in linguistics (and other disciplines) predominantly fuelled by
enormous technological progress and the impact on both the procedure of quoting itself and its
appraisal in public discourse. Embracing a broad interdisciplinary perspective the authors
pay special tribute to the inherent complementarity of both synchronic and diachronic
perspectives. With contributions pinpointing the formal and functional evolution of quoting and
tracing trends in linguistic variation this volume brings together interpersonal pragmatics
sociolinguistics historical cognitive and text linguistics as well as cultural studies. In
this way the present title provides a more comprehensive and integral understanding of the
nature of quoting.
