Or, What's Up British and American Quotation Marks?
For those anal-retentive American grammarians, there is one punctuation problem that may have them tossing and turning all night; and it has to do with the British use of the quotation mark. The double or single quotation mark: what's the difference and why is there a difference between American usage and British usage?
First, let's take a step back and look at the quotation mark itself.
He said, She said and the genesis of '
The first quotation marks were used in the eighteenth century. Before then, quotations were indicated by identifying the speaker ("he said", "she said", etc.) or changing the font style (italics or an entirely different style of font). This could prove quite confusing by modern standards as in texts such as Le Morte d'Arthur, which features long paragraphs with many speakers and no quotation marks. In the 16th century, many printers began placing quotation marks at the beginning of paragraphs, indenting the first line of a quote. When this was abandoned, the indentations remained (the indented first line of a paragraph remains a rule to this day). The quotation mark was first used in Early Modern English to indicate only succinct comments, then expanded to include everyday speech; the first recorded usage being in the early 18th century.
The first use of the quotation mark was singular and that is something that has remained as standard in the United Kingdom. The solidification of the double quotation in American writing begins with the solidification of American literature around the mid-19th century.
Yes, but why was a certain version chosen by over another one?
Perhaps it's time to look at the reasoning behind a quotation mark.
Mouth Before Pen
Language begins orally.
No one begins writing first, rather we speak first. Our language is later "translated" into a particular symbol of written speech. Linguists say that written language is a sign of spoken language. Linguists such Jacques Lacan and Ferdinand de Saussure point out that written language means nothing and its attachment to verbal expression is arbitrary. The oldest written texts in the world were oral long before anyone thought to write them down; and when they were oral, there was no need for quotation marks.
The speaker conveyed the idea of quotation marks.
Much like grammar, quotation marks are a social construct used for a literate society attempting to organize an oral society.
So, quotation marks are a method of organizing speech, differentiating it from the actions and thoughts a character in a novel is having or had. While speaking can be, in the words language philosopher J.L. Austin, either constantive (statements that are true or false such as, "This is blue") or performative (the statement itself is an act such as, "I promise"), quotation marks are most assuredly performative; regardless of what the character is saying, the quotation marks indicate the character is doing something: speaking.
Quoting Around The World
This all seems rather pedantic until one considers that perhaps different versions of the quotation mark may indicate in what way the culture considers the individual action of speech. As speech is one of the most important ways of communication amongst human beings, this becomes much less an intellectual exercise and much more a potential exegesis of a culture's opinion of the human essence.
Many Romance languages such as Spanish, Catalan and Italian use angle quotation marks, «…».
Japanese, Traditional Chinese and Korean use corner brackets, 「…」or 『…』
The importance of the quotation marks can be discerned by using the Asian style of corner brackets as an example. The brackets are only used when writing vertically, the traditional style of writing in Korea, Japan and China. The only country which uses quotation marks in the horizontal writing is Korea. Japan and China only do this rarely. Is this an indication of a greater Western lean in Chinese and Japanese; of stronger Western support in Korea? Perhaps this is so, although it can be argued that Japan has just as strong a relationship with Western countries as Korea. However, this also could be a small form of rebellion against Western influence.
Of course, any number of ideas could be expressed, but one senses that punctuation is just as intimate to a language as the glyphs, grammar and idioms are. In this case, what do single and double quotation marks say to us about the differences between American and British writers?
Stubborn Yanks and The Invention of "
The difference might be the result of stubbornness. The single quotation mark has remained a staple of British punctuation partly because it is so ingrained in the culture from earlier times. Why? The question should be, Why not? Quotation marks had never been invented before, so why be pedantic about a punctuation mark that many worked without for centuries previously. In this case, it falls on the American side.
The double quotation arose during the middle of the 19th century. This was juxtaposed with the rise of an American literature. Prior to this time period, the world saw American literature as the younger nascent echo of a much stronger British literature. Emerson and Thoreau certainly carried weight, but theirs was a philosophical literature. Fiction, the primordial soup for quotation marks, did not emerge until Mark Twain, Bret Harte and a host of American Renaissance scribes took the world stage. Not only this, but the capitalist spirit predominant in America encouraged writers to take control of their own destiny. This was especially true in Twain's case as his ill-fated investment into printing showed. Yet, an American spirit naturally rebellious to the pervading influence (and perhaps, arrogance) of British literature was now in possession of a personal printing press (or in close cohoots with one who did own a press) and thought nothing of adding an extra quotation mark to further differentiate their literature from that of their ancestors.
Conclusion
Punctuation arises from written language and systems and language and systems arises from the spoken language of people and the spoken language of people arises from the souls of people themselves. While two quotation marks may seem a petty discussion, its standardization in American further shows that, with each day, American writers are seeking to separate themselves from an ancient connection across the sea; a past they feel is insignificant in the event of the birth of a new literature, a new language and a new human.
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