quotative

Meanings

1. A grammatical device to mark quoted speech, such as be like in "he was like, 'who are you?'".
2. A form of the complementizer related to the verb say, found in many languages of West Africa and South Asia.

1. Serving to mark quoted speech.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- Proto-Indo-European *kʷó- Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *kʷótider. Proto-Italic *kʷot Latin quot Latin quotus Medieval Latin quotāreder. Old French coterbor. Middle English quoten English quote Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātuslbor. English -ate Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English -ative English quotative From quote + -ative.