diff --git a/django/utils/text.py b/django/utils/text.py
index 08ac5968368..7df9bc03b7c 100644
--- a/django/utils/text.py
+++ b/django/utils/text.py
@@ -111,11 +111,19 @@ def javascript_quote(s):
 
 smart_split_re = re.compile('("(?:[^"\\\\]*(?:\\\\.[^"\\\\]*)*)"|\'(?:[^\'\\\\]*(?:\\\\.[^\'\\\\]*)*)\'|[^\\s]+)')
 def smart_split(text):
+    """
+    Generator that splits a string by spaces, leaving quoted phrases together.
+    Supports both single and double quotes, and supports escaping quotes with
+    backslashes. In the output, strings will keep their initial and trailing
+    quote marks.
+    >>> list(smart_split('This is "a person\'s" test.'))
+    ['This', 'is', '"a person\'s"', 'test.']
+    """
     for bit in smart_split_re.finditer(text):
         bit = bit.group(0)
         if bit[0] == '"':
-            yield (bit[1:-1].replace('\\"', '"').replace('\\\\', '\\'), True)
+            yield '"' + bit[1:-1].replace('\\"', '"').replace('\\\\', '\\') + '"'
         elif bit[0] == "'":
-            yield (bit[1:-1].replace("\\'", "'").replace("\\\\", "\\"), True)
+            yield "'" + bit[1:-1].replace("\\'", "'").replace("\\\\", "\\") + "'"
         else:
-            yield (bit, False)
+            yield bit