Deyiladi

Deyiladi is a term used in Turkic-language linguistics to describe an impersonal, evidential sentence construction that marks reported information without naming its source. It expresses that something is commonly reported or stated, rather than asserted as fact by the speaker.

Origin and cognates: Deyiladi is derived from the verb meaning "to say" in Turkic languages and is part of a broader set of constructions that encode evidentiality and stance. In Azerbaijani, Turkish, and related languages, parallel forms exist that convey similar meanings, often realized as sequences or as other verb forms such as "is said" or "it is said that" in English. The exact morphology and usage vary by language and dialect, but the general function remains the same: to foreground reported speech and to allow the speaker to hedge the claim.

Usage: The deyiladi construction commonly appears in formal writing, journalism, folklore transcription, and linguistic descriptions. It can introduce statements that are attributed to others or to conventional wisdom, without specifying the source. In some contexts it also signals a neutral or cautious epistemic stance, and can interact with negation and modality to express hedged information.

Relation to other forms: Depending on the language, related forms include "deyilir" (is said) and "deyildi" (was said), which express different grammatical tenses or evidential nuances. Deyiladi thus sits within a family of reported-speech devices across the Turkic family.

See also: Reported speech; evidentiality; hedging.