INCOMPLETE SENTENCE QUOTATIONS IN BOOKS AND JOURNALS

Quotation provides a link between the work in which it is used, and th e work from which it was taken. The research described in this article extends work done by Kilgour and Feder (1992) on the frequency of dir ect quotations, looking at the use of incomplete sentence quotations ( ISQs). Specifically, this research attempts to determine if (a) there are any patterns of usage in the parts of speech that are quoted in IS Qs; (b) there are any patterns of usage in how the ISQs are incorporat ed into text; (c) there are any systematic differences in ISQ usage be tween four disciplinary areas; and (d) there are any systematic differ ences in ISQ usage between scholarly books and journals. Results showe d no major differences in the numbers of ISQs in the different areas i n books, but the journals formed two distinct groups, with the Arts an d Humanities journals having many more ISQs than those in Social Scien ce and Science and Technology. Nevertheless, the distribution of ISQs into the parts of speech was remarkably constant, with NPs and VPs mak ing up about three quarters of the ISQs. Very few ISQs were marked wit h explicit cue words.