This paper examines modes of quoting with special regard to the organization of
perspective. Due to the pragmatic interest of the study, our focus is on the functioning of two
context-dependent vantage points, the subject of consciousness and the referential centre.
Our key question about the former is to whom speaking as a sign of active consciousness is
attributed and how this is linguistically marked. As regards the latter, the central issue is from
where and how the spatio-temporal and interpersonal relations of the quoted discourse are
represented.
Further problems to be discussed include the questions of how and to what extent
quoting is associated with pragmatic or metapragmatic awareness, and how various quoting
modes may differ along this dimension.
Although the paper is mostly concerned with a ‘universal pragmatic’ characterization
of the functioning of perspective in quotations, it also highlights some language-particular
features of Hungarian quoting strategies and touches on their evolution in the history of the
language.