Linguists identify overlooked speech pattern that shapes how we understand each other
Philosophers and linguists have identified a grammatical form—"be like"—that fundamentally changes how people report what others said or thought, yet has been largely ignored in formal linguistic theory. Understanding this everyday speech pattern could improve how AI systems interpret human communication and how organizations train employees to accurately convey others' perspectives.
Originaltitel: Quotative <em>be like</em>
<p>This paper examines a form of talking about speech acts, mental states, and other features so far unexplored in philosophy: quotative <em>be like.</em> Quotative <em>be like</em> is the use of <em>like</em> and <em>to be</em> that occurs in constructions such as “Ellen was like “I’m leaving!”” We argue that neglect of quotative <em>be like</em> represents a gap in our understanding of our ways of characterizing the minds and speech of ourselves and others. Further, we show that quotative <em>be like</em> is not reducible to more familiar forms of direct discourse or indirect discourse. Mapping out a number of different options for theorizing about quotative <em>be like</em>, we argue for an account on which the quoted material in quotative <em>be like</em> picks out properties.</p>