Difference between （「~~~」と話した） and （「~~~」と語った）?


In newspaper articles, quotes seem to be always followed by （「~~~」と **話した** ）
and （「~~~」と **語った** ）.

_examples_ :  
大村明日香さんは「緊張しましたが、練習より楽しかった。大きな声を出すように心がけました」と **話した** 。 [(full
context)](http://www.sankei.com/region/news/150505/rgn1505050029-n1.html)  
担当者は「ますます女性にとって快適な機内にしたい」と **語った** 。 [(full
context)](http://www.sankei.com/region/news/141205/rgn1412050080-n1.html)

What is the difference in meaning and usage between （「~~~」と **話した** ） and
（「~~~」と **語った** ）?

Let me start by saying that（「~~~」と語った） is never used in conversation, right?




In your examples, they're interchangeable. In general, 語る is only used when
someone tells a story, opinion, idea, etc. You cannot use 語る when just おはよう or
ごめん is said. In this case I think 語る is closer to _tell_ and 言う is closer to
_say_ , because we can say 'say hello' but not 'tell hello'. (Of course the
usage of _tell_ and 語る are very different)

語る is safely used in conversations, but its colloquial use is probably limited
to fairly long stories. "おじいちゃんが戦争の思い出を孫に語っているよ" is OK. Sometimes we can even
just say "おじいちゃんがまた語り始めたよ", meaning "Grandpa stared his endless talk again!"




In your examples, they're interchangeable. In general, 語る is only used when
someone tells a story, opinion, idea, etc. You cannot use 語る when just おはよう or
ごめん is said. In this case I think 語る is closer to _tell_ and 言う is closer to
_say_ , because we can say 'say hello' but not 'tell hello'. (Of course the
usage of _tell_ and 語る are very different)

語る is safely used in conversations, but its colloquial use is probably limited
to fairly long stories. "おじいちゃんが戦争の思い出を孫に語っているよ" is OK. Sometimes we can even
just say "おじいちゃんがまた語り始めたよ", meaning "Grandpa stared his endless talk again!"

