Verbum dicendi

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A verbum dicendi (Latin for declaratory word, which is also used) is a word that expresses speech, introduces a quotation, or marks a transition to speech which may be considered non-standard. In the field of linguistics, a verbum dicendi is also known as a quotative. Typically it is a verb, e.g. "say", "avow", "claim", etc. In some languages it may take the form of a copulative particle, as in the colloquial English He was like "Turn down the music!", and I'm all "No way!".

A verbum dicendi may theoretically take any form, provided that it introduces a quote or paraphrase. In some forms of informal English, it may even take the form of an action verb like "go", as in a sentence like So John goes "This sandwich is too big!"

In languages making use of ideophones, a verbum dicendi is often used to introduce the ideophone in narrative contexts. For example, in the following Ewe sentence, bé functions as a verbum dicendi:

• É-ƒú así nu bé bóbóbó   (3SG-strike hand mouth like IDEOPHONE)   ‘s/he raised an alarm and went “bóbóbó”.’