“I was like, ‘I never say was like’”: Use versus perceptions of the be like quotative
Alyssa Stevens
LING 452—Sociolinguistics
Introduction
The be like quotative is a term that has swept through English speaking countries and has been
adopted by English speakers across the world. Labov defines the term as “a verbal introducer of
direct speech, oral or silent, or a nonspeech sound produced by vocal apparatus” (2018, p. 3).
While there are many papers that look at the spread of this linguistic term, I wanted to focus on
the actual use of be like as a quotative, versus the public perception of it. To look at this, I will
conduct interviews to gather data on participants’ use of be like and then survey the participants
on their perceptions of the quotative’s acceptability. I think the use of the quotative be like will
be looked at with much more scrutiny than say. I hypothesize that it will be used with a much
greater frequency than any other quotative but will be reported not to be used as often by
participants.
Literature Review
Previous research done on be like often focuses on globalization. Buchstaller and D’Arcy (2009)
state that the quotative has become “the flagship globally available linguistic resource” (p. 292).
They analyzed be like across corpora from the US, England, and New Zealand. Focusing on how
be like was adopted into these different varieties of English showed evidence of local adaptation
and redefinition. The social and functional constraints of be like are changed by localized groups
of speakers. While widespread use of be like appears across the varieties of English, the nuance
of how the quotative term is used differs (Buchstaller and D’Arcy, 2009).
Cukor-Avila and Bailey (2011) also looked at different ways linguistic terms might be
spread. Looking at data from a panel survey of conversational recordings from Springville,
Texas residents, they focused on how school affected the spread of the be like quotative. They
found the quotative be like to have entered the community’s vernacular around 1990. Looking at
Springville AAVE speakers compared to Canadian English speakers, they found the former to be
around one generation behind adopting be like as their primary form of quotative. They suggest
that the introduction of this quotative was a result of massive demographic changes within the
community, as the children born after 1990 were the first group to not have to leave their
community for schooling, but also had close contact with neighboring urban peers (pp. 46–48).
The changes in the demographics of school influenced the use of be like and pushed a shift to the
term as speakers main quotative.
D’Arcy et al. (2016) examined four different corpora from Canada, New Zealand, and
Australia to follow be like’s trajectory of development as a quotative. They note that be like is
“generally held to be an innovation originating in the United States” (p. 826). From their findings
examining the four corpora, they note “be like is the only change that is diffusing on a global
scale . . . These characteristics defy any known theory about the diffusion of linguistic
innovation” (p. 841). They suggest that this term’s development is unprecedented, and refer to it
as a “Black Swan Event”—an outlier (p. 842). They conclude that looking at the spread of the
quotative be like as a predictable event is incorrect, and that this random linguistic event should
be viewed as such (p. 843). These articles all give evidence to the fact that, regardless of how it
spread, be like is a part of almost every English speakers vernacular. While I am not examining
the spread of the term, these sources are helpful to have an understanding of its scope and see the
extent to which this term has been studied.
Labov (2018) also turned to corpora to look at be like. He looked at yearly interviews of
the Philadelphia Neighborhood Corpus. He found no regional diversity in the use of be like as a
quotative in Philadelphia than in other English speech communities. Labov focused on avant
garde speakers, which are speakers involved in multiple speech communities. Be like was found
to be favored by African American Avant Garde speakers, and these speakers act as agents of
change because their links to wider social networks and different speech communities “permit
new forms to flow by simple contact” (p.18).
Durham et al. (2012) look at the differences in the use of the be like quotative. Data from
the York storytelling corpus showed a sharp increase of be like in the ten years the corpus
spanned. Looking at US usage from a controlled judgment study found a say-be like
acceptability gap inversely correlated with age. Speakers under 30 years of age used be like
roughly the same amount as say. Results show no difference between the two countries’ usage,
suggesting a strong diffusion. They did not find be like to be constrained by the use of one
gender. Their findings match Buchstaller and D’Arcy’s findings, in that it seems general usage of
be like is very similar across cultures (Durham et al., 2012). These two sources help me
understand I don’t have to look out for different uses of the be like quotative. While the quantity
of use might change person to person, the way the term is used seems to remain the same.
Looking at Durham et al.’s results from speakers under 30, I want to conduct my study with
speakers around 18–25. I think this demographic will have a greater use of the be like quotative
than Durham et al.’s findings.
Davydova (2020) looks at how ESL and EFL language communities use the quotative be
like. She gathered data of ESL speakers from an Indian corpus, and data of EFL speakers from a
German corpus. Davydova found both groups to use be like significantly less than L1 English
speakers, and tended to be seen as a more casual, less educated term. However, due to its
sociocongitive salience, the term still had a steady diffusion (Davydova, 2020). A previous
article by Davydova et al. (2017) focused on German English learners perceptions of the term.
They gave German students a questionnaire and found that German students perceptions of the
be like quotative matched native English speakers perceptions. Be like was seen as trendier, more
fashionable, and sounded less educated than say (Davydova et al., 2017). This was the only
article I looked at that sought to look at public perceptions of the term and inspired my use of a
survey to gain insight on participants perceptions versus their actual use of the term.
Methodology
I wanted to compare the use of be like as a quotative with perceptions of the term. It is clear that
it is a common and often-used term—does this extend to public perception nowadays? Are
people aware of their use of the term? In order to look at this, I took a two-pronged approach:
First, I interviewed participants, counting their use of be like and say as quotatives according to
Labov’s definition. Then, I gave them a survey examining their perceptions of the quotative be
like along with how often they thought they used it.
My original three participants were all female, between the ages of 19–23, all from
different parts of the United States. During my interviews, one of the participant’s audio
(participant C) didn’t record, and I lost the interview. I wanted to have at least three results to
compare, so I interviewed another person, a male age 19 (participant D). Each participant was
asked, “hey, I need to interview some people for a class. Would you mind participating in a 10–
15-minute interview, and then filling out a quick survey?” I didn’t let participants know until
after the survey what class the interview was for, and what language feature I was looking for.
This was to ensure they didn’t have a bias when completing the tasks.
For the interview, I came up with an interview map. This map began with the question
“What’s a time you had an argument with a roommate/someone you lived with, and how did you
resolve it?” The purpose of this question was to inspire participants to quote someone, and let
participants talk about something they were passionate about. Depending on who the participant
chose to talk about, whether it be a roommate, family member, or mission companion, I created
three routes of investigation to evoke further responses and help the interview flow. These often
went back to asking about arguments, as I figured that would evoke the most emotional
responses while still putting the interviewee in a position to use quotatives.
For the survey, I aimed to lean into participants biases, making participants rank the use
of be like and said in terms of acceptability. They were first shown two sentences that utilized be
like and asked to select if they were acceptable, somewhat acceptable, or not acceptable. They
were then given the same two sentences, this time introduced with the quotative say, and asked
again to rank both on acceptability.
So then Eliza was like “What just happened?”
Eliza said, “What just happened?”
They were then given six sentences, three of which used the quotative be like and three which
used say, and were asked to place each sentence into a category: acceptable, somewhat
acceptable, and not acceptable. Within these categories, they ranked the sentences. Finally,
participants were asked if they thought the be like quotative was proper English, on a scale of 1–
5 with a 1 being definitely not and a 5 being definitely yes. They were then given free space to
write why or why not. The final question asked participants to choose how often they thought
they used be like as a quotative, from “often” to “never.”
Results
Interview A and B both lasted 12 minutes and 40 seconds, with interview D lasting only 9
minutes. In interviews A and B, participant A used the quotative be like 27 times, which is about
1 be like every 28 seconds. Participant B used the quotative be like 29 times, or 1 be like every
26 seconds. Participant D used be like only 15 times, or 1 be like every 36 seconds.
Participant A used the quotative say only four times and didn’t use any other quotative.
Twice, it was used in tangent with be like.
“And then I texted my companion and was like, “Hey, she said just to be safe, quarantine
for a few days.’”
“She like said once to, like, the Sister Missionary, she was like ‘You remind me of
Pollyanna, except you’re more annoying.’”
Participant B did not use the quotative say, but they did use told, not as a quotative, but to
introduce things had been said. I am choosing not to count this based off Labov’s (2018)
previous definition of quotatives. This means that the only quotative Participant B used was be
like. Participant D used said like twice.
“You’ve always said like, ‘Oh if I ever say anything, you know, that hurts you.’”
“He said, like, he’ll work better on it.”
Another quotative participant D said was “And then he comes out with, ‘Well, I could see how
you could see—.’” This is not something I’ve seen before; however, it works in this context as a
quotative.
Participant D’s use of be like is also debatable, as several times he dropped the be when
introducing a quotative.
“He’s always like, ‘Oh, I don’t think I’m attacking you.’”
Participant D was the only interviewee to use like as a quotative without the be. As it was used as
a quotative, I am choosing to include it in the results, assuming the be is dropped.
Discussion of results
All three participants primarily used be like as a quotative much more than any other term, with
one using be like exclusively. Sadly, I was not able to get Participant C’s audio to record, as they
devolved into using say as a quotative the angrier they got in recounting their experience, leading
the interview to end with her saying how they “chewed out a group of elders”, switching back
and forth from “I said” to “they said.” It seems clear that for the most part, be like is the primary
quotative.
The survey showed evidence that not only is be like commonly used, it is also viewed in a
favorable light. The two sentences using be like were selected as acceptable by two participants,
and somewhat acceptable by two participants. The two sentences using say were selected almost
entirely as acceptable, save for one person who selected somewhat acceptable for the second
sentence. I think this is due to the more casual tone of the quote.
Out of the six ranking sentences, none were met with unanimous acceptability.
The three quotative say sentences had three participants rank them each as acceptable. No
sentences were unanimously ranked as unacceptable either. The three be like sentences were
predominantly marked as somewhat acceptable, with two sentences receiving three votes of
somewhat acceptable, and the third sentence receiving one vote of acceptable and three votes of
not acceptable (“He was like, ‘If you aren’t going to do your job then you’re fired!’”).
When asked if be like was “proper English,” each participant selected a different answer:
definitely yes, probably yes, maybe, and probably not were all chosen. Notably, no one said
definitely not. When asked why, participants stated things such as “It depends entirely on the
context and dialect being spoken” and “Cause using like doesn’t seem like proper English.” My
favorite answer was “It implies the attitude and intention behind the exchange along with the
actual words. It captures the energy of the statement and the likeness of the person being
quoted.” I think this statement captures one of the reasons why the quotative be like is such a
popular term. It allows people to quote without quoting directly, a fact which people are
increasingly aware of. When asked how often they used the quotative be like, two participants
said often, one said sometimes, and one participant answered never. This answer was clearly
false, and shows some division between perception and use, at least in a portion of the
population.
Conclusion
The perception of the quotative be like is favorable, which matches up with the popularity and
frequency of its use, though the term is not seen as acceptable in formal settings. The quotative
was used almost exclusively in the three recorded interviews, and was listed as either acceptable
or slightly acceptable in the survey. Participants ranged on whether they recognized their own
use of the term, though in future studies providing context for when they would use the term
might change these results. It seems that for the most part, perceptions of the term remain
favorable to casual context, though it is seen as unacceptable in more formal settings.
The survey could especially use refinement, and more options to list participants’
opinions. I was often asked “in what context?” when looking at the acceptability of the quotative,
further distinction or a box for participants to state what context they think would be appropriate
for the term could be useful. A future study could further develop this survey, with more options
and, perhaps, better use of punctuation (see: the lack of commas when introducing the quote after
be like in the survey—oops!). This study could also look into a broader demographic, venturing
into different age ranges, from teenagers to older generations and see how use and perception
differs between the groups. There is also a possibility of taking it even larger scale, and looking
at different English varieties’ use and perceptions by conducting interviews and surveys in
multiple English L1 countries.
References
Buchstaller, I., D’Arcy, A. (2009). Localized globalization: A multi-local, multivariate
investigation of quotative be like. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13(3), 291–331.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2009.00412.
Cukor-Avila, P., Bailey, G. (2011). The interaction of transmission and diffusion in the spread of
linguistic forms. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 17(2), 41–49.
https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol17/iss2/6
D'Arcy, A., Louro, C., Taliamonte, S. (2016). Outliers, impact, and rationalization in linguistic
change. Language, 92(4), 824–849. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44164126.
Davydova, J. (2020). The role of sociocognitive salience in the acquisition of structured variation
and linguistic diffusion: Evidence from quotative be like. Language in Society, 50(2),
171–196. doi:10.1017/S0047404519001003.
Davydova, J., Tytus, A. E., Schleef, E. (2017). Acquisition of sociolinguistic awareness by
German learners of English: A study in perceptions of quotative be like. De Gruyter
Mounton, 55(4), 783–812. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2017-0011.
Durham, M., Haddican, B., Zweig, E., Johnson, D. E., Baker, Z., Cockeram, D., Danks, E., &
Tyler, L. (2012). Constant linguistic effects in the diffusion of be like. Journal of English
Linguistics, 40(4), 316–337. doi:10.1177/0075424211431266.
Labov, W. (2018). The role of the Avant Garde in linguistic diffusion. Language Variation and
Change, 30, 1–21. doi:10.1017/S0954394518000042.
Appendix
Be like survey
Final Project Sociolinguistics
April 17th 2023, 10:01 pm MDT
Q2 - So then Eliza was like "What just happened?"
#
1
Field Minimum Maximum Mean
So then Eliza was like “What
just happened?”
1.00
2.00
1.50
Std
Variance Count
Deviation
0.50
0.25
4
#
Answer
%
Count
1
Acceptable
50.00%
2
2
Somewhat accpetable
50.00%
2
3
Not acceptable
0.00%
0
Total
100%
4
Q4 - Jamie was like "Girl, do I look like I know?"
#
1
Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Jamie was like “Girl, do I look
like I know?”
1.00
2.00
1.50
Std
Variance Count
Deviation
0.50
0.25
4
#
Answer
%
Count
1
Acceptable
50.00%
2
2
Somewhat accpetable
50.00%
2
3
Not acceptable
0.00%
0
Total
100%
4
Q6 - Eliza said, "What just happened?"
#
1
Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Eliza said, “What just
happened?”
1.00
1.00
1.00
Std
Variance Count
Deviation
0.00
0.00
4
#
Answer
%
Count
1
Acceptable
100.00%
4
2
Somewhat acceptable
0.00%
0
3
Not acceptable
0.00%
0
Total
100%
4
Q8 - Jamie said, "Girl, do I look like I know?"
#
1
Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Jamie said, “;Girl, do I look like
I know?”
1.00
2.00
1.25
Std
Variance Count
Deviation
0.43
0.19
4
#
Answer
%
Count
1
Acceptable
75.00%
3
2
Somewhat acceptable
25.00%
1
3
Not acceptable
0.00%
0
Total
100%
4
Q9 - Rank these sentences in order of acceptablility
Q10 - Do you think saying "He was like/she was like" is proper English?
#
1
Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Do you think saying “He was
like/she was like” is proper
English?
2.00
5.00
3.50
Std
Variance Count
Deviation
1.12
1.25
4
#
Answer
%
Count
1
Definitely not
0.00%
0
2
Probably not
25.00%
1
3
Maybe
25.00%
1
4
Probably yes
25.00%
1
5
Definitely yes
25.00%
1
Total
100%
4
Q11 - Why or why not?
Why or why not?
It depends entirely on the context and the dialect being spoken
It implies the attitude and intention behind the exchange along with the actual words. It captures the
energy of the statement and the likeness of the person being quoted.
Cause using like doesn’t seem like proper English.
I feel like it’s more proper to say “they said” instead of “they were like” but I use it in my conversations
Q12 - How often do you say "he was like/she was like" when introducing a
quote?
#
1
Field Minimum Maximum Mean
How often do you say “he was
like/she was like” when
introducing a quote?
1.00
4.00
Std
Variance Count
Deviation
2.00
1.22
1.50
4
#
Answer
%
Count
1
Often
50.00%
2
2
Sometimes
25.00%
1
3
Not often
0.00%
0
4
Never
25.00%
1
Total
100%
4