locution

/ləˈkjuʃən/

Other forms: locutions

Your southern-born friend's habit of saying "y'all" when she's talking to her family could be described as locution — it's a word she habitually uses in particular situations.

A person's style of speech — certain words or phrases she tends to use — is her locution, especially if it's specific to a particular place or group of people, like teenagers or French Canadians. You can also use the noun locution when you're talking about the way a person pronounces words. If someone tends to "beat around the bush," or tell a story in a roundabout way, you can call that circumlocution.

Definitions of locution

1. noun

   a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations
   synonyms: expression, saying

   types:

   Beatitude

   one of the eight sayings of Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount; in Latin each saying begins with `beatus' (blessed)

   logion

   a saying of Jesus that is regarded as authentic although it is not recorded in the Gospels

   calque, calque formation, loan translation

   an expression introduced into one language by translating it from another language

   advice and consent

   a legal expression in the United States Constitution that allows the Senate to constrain the President's powers of appointment and treaty-making

   ambiguity

   an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context

   euphemism

   an inoffensive or indirect expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive or too harsh

   dysphemism

   an offensive or disparaging expression that is substituted for an inoffensive one

   shucks

   an expression of disappointment or irritation

   tongue twister

   an expression that is difficult to articulate clearly

   anatomical, anatomical reference

   an expression that relates to anatomy

   southernism

   a locution or pronunciation peculiar to the southern United States

   catchword, motto, shibboleth, slogan

   a favorite saying of a sect or political group

   axiom, maxim

   a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits

   epigram, quip

   a witty saying

   adage, byword, proverb, saw

   a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people

   idiom, idiomatic expression, phrasal idiom, phrase, set phrase

   an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up

   agrapha

   sayings of Jesus not recorded in the canonical Gospels

   sumpsimus

   a correct expression that takes the place of a popular but incorrect expression

   bus, clunker, heap, jalopy

   a car that is old and unreliable

   loophole

   an ambiguity (especially one in the text of a law or contract) that makes it possible to evade a difficulty or obligation

   amphibology, amphiboly

   an ambiguous grammatical construction; e.g., `they are flying planes' can mean either that someone is flying planes or that something is flying planes

   parisology

   the use of ambiguous words

   double entendre

   an ambiguity with one interpretation that is indelicate

   catch phrase, catchphrase

   a phrase that has become a catchword

   mantra

   a commonly repeated word or phrase

   battle cry, cry, rallying cry, war cry, watchword

   a slogan used to rally support for a cause

   aphorism, apophthegm, apothegm

   a short pithy instructive saying

   gnome

   a short pithy saying expressing a general truth

   moralism

   a moral maxim

   ruralism, rusticism

   a rural idiom or expression

   old man

   an informal term for your father

   type of:

   language, oral communication, speech, speech communication, spoken communication, spoken language, voice communication

   (language) communication by word of mouth