| Asyndeton with certain dependent clause-like structures takes the form of the device of quotation or direct discourse. We must admit that such structures are not really noun clauses. They are sentential: they take the form of a pro-sentence or a full sentence, which may be declarative, interrogative, or imperative. In direct discourse, i.e., the asyndetic sentential “noun clause,” the author preserves the wording of the utterance. In writing the author places the material of direct discourse between quotation marks, hence the use of the term quotative noun clause (QuoNC). Direct discourse is common with many verbs expressing the idea of “utter” or “write.” |
| (1) | "Now tread we a measure!" said young Lochinvar. — Scott. | |||
| i. | "Now tread we a measure!" | |||
| m. | Young Lochinvar said this. | dQuoNC | ||
| The quotative noun clause is the dependent sentence shown in PS rule 15. |
![[P15] The Argument](gif/bnf/bnf15.gif)
| The following diagram may be helpful in coming up with the most appropriate paraphrase for the quotative noun clause. |
| The linguist says that in this case the verb write, etc. selects the QuoNC (dependent sentence) as opposed to some kind of noun clause. |
Selecting for the noun clause.To describe selection the linguist posits a feature of subcategorization on the segment selected. In the case of principle 9a the particular feature that is selected for on the QuoNC would be say [+Quotative]. The presence of this feature on the ARG would presumably be useful to state a restriction on the realization of the dependent sentence (S) having the distinctive quotation intonation. The differences in tropic between the pro-sentence, and among the declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences being quoted affect intonation. These would also need to be specified by positing additional features. |
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Diagraming the quotative noun clause.Previous diagrams of dependent clauses have been restricted to those whose form and whose reference in the independent clause was implicit in the final form of the sentence. These diagrams were of independent clauses usually connected with conjunctions. We indicated implicit dependence with dotted arrows. The quotative noun clause has no explicit deictic or connective, but is clearly dependent. When written the author indicates its dependence and connection simply by the use of quotation marks and some other punctuation. |
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