As a Noun: 1. Something that you say, write, or sign that gives your opinion of something or which gives an explanation of it. English = comment. 2. The way someone goes about using words or signs to communicate a specific piece of information or a story. English = telling, rendition. 3. The words or signs of another person which you accept as the reason or authority for you to do something. Informal English = say-so. 4. A traditional sentence that people often say and that gives advice or information about human life and experience. English = saying. As a Verb or Adjective: 1. To use spoken words, written words or signs to communicate something. Often comes before or after quoting the words or signs. English = say. 2. To communicate information to someone in spoken words, written words or signs. Often followed by naming the person or people addressed and optionally quoting the words or signs. (In Auslan you can direct the sign towards the location of the person who was addressed instead of naming them.) English = tell. 3. To use spoken words, written words or signs to briefly talk about something to someone else (usually when the main reason for the communication is another piece of information). English = mention. 4. To say something that gives your opinion of something or which gives an explanation of it. English = comment. 5. To say that something is the case in a firm, deliberate way. English = declare. Note: 1. Some signers feel there is a meaning difference between two of the different forms of this sign: one is ‘tell’ and the other is ‘say’. However, corpus recordings shows signers using both palm orientations while mouthing either ‘tell’ or ‘say’. Indeed, most signers combine either mouthing with both forms at different times. So it is hard to support the claim that they are really two different signs rather than one sign that varies.