A verbum dicendi (or declaratory word) is a word that expresses speech, introduces a quotation, or marks a transition to speech which may be considered non-standard. Typically it is a verb, e.g. "say", "avow", "claim", etc. Occasionally, it may take the form of a copulative phrase, as in the colloquial sentence He was like "Turn down the music!", and I was all "No way!". In the field of linguistics, a verbum dicendi is also known as a 'quotative.' A word is a unit of language that carries meaning and consists of one or more morphemes which are linked more or less tightly together. ... A verb is a part of speech that usually denotes action (bring, read), occurrence (decompose, glitter), or a state of being (exist, stand). Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its tense, aspect, mood and voice. ... The word copula originates from the Latin noun for a link or tie that connects two different things. ... A colloquialism is an expression not used in formal speech or writing. ...

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!" Paraphrasing is the act in which a statement or remark is explained in other words or another way, as to clarify the meaning. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

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: Contents // Categories: Linguistics | Stub ... Ewe (pronounced /eβe/) is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana and Togo by approximately three million people (Capo 1991). ...

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

Agglutinative languages may decline the expression as usual, for example, Finnish tursk- "gush, burst" is agglutinated to turskahtaa "to burst once", turskahdella "to burst repeatedly" using regular frequentative-momentane derivation. (The noun turska "cod" is unrelated.) In grammar, a frequentative form of a word is one which indicates repeated action. ... The momentane is a verb type, which indicates short-lived, sudden, intransitive action. ...

• Vettä turskahteli hanasta "Water came from the tap, going tursk, tursk."