quotative

quotative (plural quotatives)

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

quotative (not comparable)

1. (grammar) Serving to mark quoted speech.

• quotatively
• quotativeness