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A quotative (abbreviated QUOT) is a grammatical device to mark quoted speech. When a quotation is used, the grammatical person and tense of the original utterance is maintained, rather than adjusting it as would be the case with reported speech. It can be equated with "spoken quotation marks."
In Dutch, the preposition van can be used to introduce direct speech:
Quotative van can be used in combination with a verb of speech, as in the above example, a noun designating something with message-carrying content, or a light verb, e.g. a copula (like for English quotative like ). [2]
In the specific colloquial combination zoiets hebben van (literally, "have something suchlike of"), the subsequent quoted speech conveys a (possibly unspoken) feeling: [3]
In English the most common quotative has historically been the verb say:
Starting in the late 20th century, the expression be like began to be used frequently as a quotative in colloquial speech:
In speech, the word like in this use is typically followed by a brief pause, indicated here with a comma. This quotative construction is particularly common for introducing direct speech indicating someone's attitude. [4]
Georgian marks quoted speech with one of two suffixes depending on the grammatical person of who made the original utterance, -მეთქი for the first person and -ო for the second and third person. [5]
The following sentences show the use of the first person and non-first person quotative particles respectively. Note the preservation of both the person and tense of the original utterances:
| მოხუცმა | იტირა, | როცა | ვუთხარი, | რომ | თქვენი | ვაჟიშვილი | ჯარში | უნდა | წავიდეს | -მეთქი. [6] |
| Mokhutsma | it'ira | rotsa | vutkhari | rom | tkveni | vazhishvili | jar-shi | unda | ts'avides | metki. |
| He-ERG | cry-AOR | when | I told-AOR him | that | your | son-NOM | in the army | must | he goes-OPT | 1st person quot. |
| "The old man cried when I told him that his son had to enter the army" lit. "that 'your son has to enter the army.'" | ||||||||||
| კახეთში | კი | ინტურისტის | ექსკურსიას | უნდა | გაყვე | ო. [7] |
| K'akhet-shi | k'i | int'urist'is | eksk'ursias | unda | gaqve | o. |
| To Kakheti | but | Intourist-GEN | excursion-DAT | must | you accompany-OPT it | 3rd person quot. |
| "But (they said) that I had to accompany an Intourist excursion to Kakheti " lit. "that 'you must accompany'" | ||||||
Note that this second sentence omits an overt verbum dicendi since the original speaker is already known, and context makes it clear that the speaker was the original addressee.
Ancient Greek can mark quoted speech in prose with the subordinating conjunction ὅτι: [8]
| οἱ | δὲ | εἶπον | ὅτι | ἱκανοί | ἐσμεν. [9] |
| They | but | said-AOR | quot. | ready | we are-PAI1P. |
| "They said that they were ready" lit. "that 'we are ready' " | |||||
In Japanese, the quotative と [to] is used to indicate direct speech in this sentence:
| 石田さん | は | 「トマトが好きじゃない」 | と | 言いました。 |
| Ishida-san | wa | "tomato ga suki janai" | to | iimashita. |
| Mr. Ishida | top. | "tomato-nom. like-neg." | quot. | say-past-polite |
| "Mr. Ishida said that he didn't like tomatoes" lit. "that 'I don't like tomatoes'" | ||||
The following example shows the preservation of both grammatical person and the tense in a quoted utterance using the quotative particle:
| 彼女 | は | 僕 | に | 「あなたが好きだ」 | と | 言った。 [10] |
| Kanojo | wa | boku | ni | "anata ga suki da" | to | itta. |
| She | top. | I | dat. | "you-nom. like cop." | quot. | say-past |
| "She told me that she liked me" lit. "that 'I like you'" | ||||||
See Japanese grammar for more examples of when と (to) is used.
In Korean, the marker 라고rago follows the quoted sentence clause, marking direct quotation as follows:
| 주현 씨 | 는 | 저 | 에게 | "니가 좋아" | 라고 | 말했어요. |
| Joohyun sshi | neun | jeo | ege | "niga joha" | rago | malhaesseoyo. |
| Ms. Joohyun | top. | I | dat. | "you-nom. like" | quot. | say-past-polite |
| "Joohyun told me that she liked me." lit. "that 'I like you.'" | ||||||
The verb 말하다malhada, "to say", is often shortened to 하다hada, meaning "to do". This is because the quotative marker alone makes it obvious the quote was said by someone, so saying the whole verb is redundant.
Indirect quotation works similarly, albeit using different markers. When quoting a plain sentence, the marker ㄴ/는다고n/neundago (ㄴ다고ndago after vowels, 는다고neundago after consonants) is attached to the quoted verb. When quoting adjectives, 다고dago is used:
| 주현 씨 | 는 | 저 | 에게 | 제가 좋다고 | 했어요. | |
| Joohyun sshi | neun | jeo | ege | jega johtago | haesseoyo. | |
| Ms. Joohyun | top. | I | dat. | I-nom. like-quot. | say-past-polite | |
| "Joohyun told me that she liked me." | ||||||
When quoting the copula 이다ida, the marker 라고rago is used instead:
| 경수 씨 | 는 | 저 | 에게 | 아직 | 학생이라고 | 했어요. |
| Kyungsoo sshi | neun | jeo | ege | ajik | haksaeng-irago | haesseoyo. |
| Mr. Kyungsoo | top. | I | dat. | still | student-cop.-quot. | say-past-polite |
| "Kyungsoo told me that he's still a student." | ||||||
Question sentences are marked with the quotative marker 냐고nyago, which changes to 느냐고neunyago after verbs ending in a consonant and to 으냐고eunyago after adjectives ending in a consonant.
| 저 | 는 | 윤아 씨 | 에게 | 망고 | 를 | 먹어본 | 적이 | 있냐고 | 물어봤어요. |
| Jeo | neun | yoona sshi | ege | mang-go | reul | meogeobon | jeogi | innyago | mureobwasseoyo. |
| I | top. | Ms. Yoona | dat. | mango | subj. | eat-try-past-attrib. | experience-subj. | have-question-quot. | ask-past-polite |
| "I asked Yoona if she has tried mango." lit. "has the experience of eating mango" | |||||||||
| 저 | 는 | 종대 씨 | 에게 | 공원 | 으로 | 가고 싶으냐고 | 물어봤어요. |
| Jeo | neun | Jongdae sshi | ege | gong-won | euro | gago shipeunyago | mureobwasseoyo. |
| I | top. | Mr. Jongdae | dat. | park | towards | go-to want-question-quot. | ask-past-polite |
| "I asked Jongdae whether he would like to go to the park." | |||||||
In Sanskrit, the quotative marker iti is used to convey the meaning of someone (or something) having said something.
| स | भषति | इति | ते | तस्य | गृहम् | आगच्छन्ति |
| sa | bhaṣati | iti | te | tasya | gṛham | āgacchanti |
| He | says | quot. | they | his | house | come |
| He says that they come to his house (He says, "They come to my house.") | ||||||
In the following English sentence, no word indicates the quoted speech.
John said, "Wow,"
That is indicated only typographically. In Sinhala, on the other hand, here is the equivalent sentence:
John Wow kiyalaa kivvaa
It has an overt indication of quoted speech after the quoted string Wow, the quotative kiyalaa.
In Telugu, traditionally the words andi (for female and neuter singular), meaning she said that or it said, annāḍu (for male singular), meaning he said that and annāru (for plural), meaning They said are used as quotative markers. However, in recent times, many Telugu speakers are resorting to use the Latin quotation marks ("...") to convey speech.
For Example,
తను ఇంటికి వెళదాము అన్నాడు (tanu iṃṭiki veḻadāmu annāḍu)
means, He said that we will go to home, literally, He Said, "We'll go home".
In Turkish, direct speech is marked by following it by a form of the verb demek ("to say"), [11] as in
In particular, the word diye (literally "saying"), a participle of demek, is used to mark quoted speech when another verb of utterance than demek is needed:
In contrast, indirect speech uses the opposite order. The reported utterance is preceded by the verb of utterance and introduced by the conjunctive particle ki , comparable to English "that":
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