Quotatives considers the phenomenon "quotation" from a wealth of perspectives. It consolidates findings from different strands of research, combining formal and functional approaches for the definition of reported discourse and situating the phenomenon in a broader typological and sociolinguistic perspective. * Provides an interface between sociolinguistic research and other linguistic disciplines, in particular discourse analysis, typology, construction grammar but also more formal approaches * Incorporates innovative methodology that draws on discourse analytic, typological and sociolinguistic approaches * Investigates the system both in its diachronic development as well as via cross-variety comparisons * Presents careful definition of the envelope of variation and considers alternative definitions of the phenomenon "quotation" * Empirical findings are reported from distribution and perception data, which allows comparing and contrasting perception and reality