Text segments marked by graphical symbols are text segments in quotation marks, brackets or between dashes.
Quotation marks. When analyzing text segments in quotation marks (double or
simple) (“text segment in quotation marks”) two kinds of
information are specified (in the quot
attribute, which is a list every item of
which is a structure of attributes quot/type and quot/set_id):
scope of the quotation marks, i.e. which part of the tree represents the expressions within the quotation marks.
For each text segment in quotation marks a unique identifier
is selected. For all nodes representing expressions in the given
text segment within quotation marks this unique identifier is
encoded in the attribute quot/set_id. A node can be a member
of one or more sets of such marked nodes (embedded quotation), or of
none.
type of use, i.e. in which function the quotation marks have been used (direct speech, title, quotation).
Information on the type of use of the quotation marks is
encoded in the quot/type
attribute. Every node representing an expression that is part of a
text segment in quotation marks is, apart from the quot/set_id attribute, which gathers the
nodes of the text segment together, assigned also a value of the
attribute quot/type. The type of
use of the quotation marks is specified for the whole text segment.
Therefore, it holds that nodes with the same identifier in the
quot/set_id attribute have also
the same value in the quot/type
attribute. The quot/type
attribute distinguishes four types of quotation mark use; see Table 5.2, “Types of quotation mark
use”.
Table 5.2. Types of quotation mark use
Type | quot/type | Definition | Examples |
quotation | citation | a text segment representing a quoted speech, which is formally integrated in the construction. The quoted segment is not complete; usually just a part of utterance is quoted (even one word). | He added that the FRG did not want to „pressurise“but to “be supportive”. He said that „it is not necessary.“ |
direct speech | dsp | direct speech (see Section 5, “Direct speech”); the quoted speech is a coherent (complete) unit | „We have several hundred members.“ His answer was: „I will come“. |
meta-language | meta | expressions used metalinguistically, i.e. expressions in which the words are not used in the usual way; the words themselves are the topic, i.e. their meaning or form | the notice "Danger!" The verb "to be" is a copula verb. Skin full of tatoos means: "I am the boss here". |
title | title | The vessel was called "Admiral Nelson". | |
other cases | other | other types of use (irony, metaphor etc.) | The company respects the influence of "destiny". One district "weighs" 100 kilograms. |
Text segments in brackets and between dashes are not marked in any special way. Brackets are interpreted as signalling parenthesis. Text segments in brackets are annotated according to the rules in Section 5, “Parenthesis”. The function of dashes delimiting a text segment can vary. In a number of cases text segments between dashes are treated as parenthesis (for the rules, see Section 5, “Parenthesis”); in other cases the dashes are treated as co-ordinating connectives.