Re: CHAT: ...y'know

In a message dated 6/28/99 4:56:09 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
edheil@POSTMARK.NET writes:

<< That's called the "quotative like."

 "He's like..." has a subtle semantic difference from "He said..." in
 that the former introduces not mere quotation but actual
 impersonation, usually complete with paralinguistic features like tone
 of voice and facial expression.

 It's semantically transparent, of course: when you introduce an
 impersonation with "He was like..." you are attempting to give an
 impression of what the person was actually "like" while saying such a
 thing.
  >>

does the quotative like occur in any langauges other that English?

pp
jm