quotative

A quotative is a linguistic device used to introduce or frame reported speech, thought, or other communicative content. It can be a verb, a particle, or a small set of constructions that signals that what follows is someone else’s words or mental content. The term covers both direct quotations and the broader framing of reported discourse.

In English, the most common quotatives are verbs such as say, tell, think, and be like, and they can introduce both direct and indirect speech. Direct speech typically uses a sentence like She said, "I'm tired." or He asked, "Where are you going?" The quotative verb marks the transition from the reporting clause to the quoted material. Be like is a colloquial quotative meaning “to say” or “to be like,” as in He was like, "Let's go." Indirect speech uses a that-clause or a zero-complementizer, as in She said that she was tired.

Quotatives also interact with stance, evidentiality, and source attribution. The choice of quotative can affect how the speaker’s attitude or the reliability of the reported content is perceived. Some languages rely on dedicated quotative particles or markers rather than verbs, and others have multiple quotatives that encode nuance such as certainty, distance, or directness.

Cross-linguistic variation is common. Numerous languages use quotative particles or markers to introduce quoted material; for example, Japanese often uses the quotative particle to (meaning “quoting”) to introduce content, while Korean employs various forms to mark reported speech. In many languages, the same content can be framed with different quotatives to convey different rhetorical or evidential meanings.

Research into quotatives sheds light on discourse structure, speaker stance, and how different languages package reported speech. It is relevant to studies of syntax, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics, as quotatives reflect interactional goals and language change over time.