quotative

plural quotatives

1. grammarA grammatical device to mark quoted speech, such as be like in "he was like, 'who are you?'".

   Whereas most quotatives introduce either inner monologue or direct speech, the new quotative be like can introduce both kinds of reported speech, thus allowing the speaker to express an attitude, reaction, or thought, as well as something actually said.

   1990, Carl Blyth, Jr.; Sigrid Recktenwald; Jenny Wang, “I'm like, "Say What?!": A New Quotative in American Oral Narrative”, in American Speech, volume 65, number 3, →DOI, →JSTOR, page 215

2. human sciencesA form of the complementizer related to the verb say, found in many languages of West Africa and South Asia.

1. not comparablegrammarServing to mark quoted speech.