ergative

From Ancient Greek ἐργᾰ́της (ergátēs, “labourer, worker”) + English -ive (suffix meaning ‘belong or relating to; of the nature of; serving to; tending to’ forming adjectives).

der

The case systems of ergative languages are counter-intuitive to speakers of Indo-European languages.

The most common situation is for nouns to inflect according to a nominative-ergative pattern, while pronouns at least superficially follow a nominative-accusative pattern. That is, nouns have a single case (nominative) marking intransitive subject and transitive object functions, and another case (ergative) for transitive subject function.

1972, R[obert] M[alcolm] W[ard] Dixon, “Australian Languages”, in The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics; 9), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →ISBN, page 4:

For Podopa, the actor of most transitive verbs (and of some intransitive verbs as well) may occur with or without the ergative case suffix, but with a semantic difference. The ergative suffix indicates that the actor is acting independently, is self-motivated, and exerts his personal control over the situation; while its lack indicates that the actor is performing according to his set social obligations, not according to his own independent will, and does not assert his personal control over the situation.

1986, William A[uguste] Foley, “Nominals”, in The Papuan Languages of New Guinea (Cambridge Language Surveys), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, published 1999, →ISBN, page 108:

The ergative case marks the agent of a transitive verb. The ergative suffix is -le/-re/-lle/-ʔille. The form of the ergative suffix is /-le/ for the indefinite and /-ʔille/ for the definite after the consonants /ʔ/, /k/, /t/, /p/, /b/, /ŋ/, /n/ and /m/.

1987, George van Driem, “Nominal Morphology”, in A Grammar of Limbu (Mouton Grammar Library; 4), Berlin, New York, N.Y.: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 39:

In Section 1 I will discuss the existence of a class of ergative adjectives in Dutch[…]. It will be demonstrated that there are a number of arguments supporting the claim that the class of adjectives should be divided into ergative and unergative adjectives. A large number of adjectives that are unergative according to the tests provided in Section 2 appear to be ergative with respect to their argument structure.

2000, Hans Bennis, “Adjectives and Argument Structure”, in Peter Coopmans, Martin Everaert, Jane Grimshaw, editors, Lexical Specification and Insertion (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory; 197), Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, →ISSN, pages 27–28:

Another difference between C. Barwar and Kurdish is the fact that in C. Barwar the compound perfect construction is not ergative. […] In Kurdish, on the other hand, the corresponding compound construction, which appears to have been the model for the NENA [North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic] construction, is ergative in form when the verb is transitive. The loss of the ergative inflection in C. Barwar and most other NENA dialects is again a development internal to NENA. The original ergative type of construction has survived only in a few Jewish dialects on the eastern periphery.

2008, Geoffrey Khan, “Introduction”, in HdO: The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Barwar (Handbook of Oriental Studies; Section 1 (The Near and Middle East); 96), volume 1 (Grammar), Leiden, Boston, Mass.: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 22:

(grammar) With the subject of a transitive construction having grammatical cases or thematic relations different from those of an intransitive construction.

ergatief

with the subjects of transitive constructions having grammatical cases or thematic relations different from those of from intransitive constructions


ergative

Samoan, for example, differs from the usual pattern displayed by split ergative languages in that the appearance of the ergative is grounded in sociolinguistic factors as well as syntactic ones. The more formal register of Samoan requires the ergative on all postverbal transitive subjects. The less formal register allows the ergative not to be expressed at all.

2006, Miriam Butt, “The Ergative Dragon”, in Theories of Case (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 178:

(grammar) Ellipsis of ergative case (“a grammatical case used to indicate the agent of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages”).

ergative case

Unlike those with subjectivized ergatives, such locative clauses naturally do not allow for imperatives (*Contain the apples).

1971, John M[athieson] Anderson, “Locative”, in The Grammar of Case: Towards a Localistic Theory (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics; 4), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, published 1976, →ISBN, part III (Locative and Ablative), page 90:

Woodbury (1975) does argue, however, that absolutives are more relativisable in Greenlandic than are ergatives, on the grounds that (1) RCs [Relative Clauses] formed on ergatives are somewhat more restricted in the distribution in matrix clauses (p. 21) than are those formed on absolutives, and (2) for certain verb classes ergatives cannot be relativised out of the active participle (p. 27).

1987, Edward L. Keenan, Bernard Comrie, “Noun Phrase Accessibility and Universal Grammar”, in Edward L. Keenan, Universal Grammar: 15 Essays (Croom Helm Linguistics Series), Beckenham, Kent, North Ryde, N.S.W.: Croom Helm, →ISBN, part 1 (Cross Language Variation), page 26:

Ergatives share close similarities with agentless passives: Both are intransitive, both lack an agent, while the patient appears in the subject position. As the acquisition data show, learners seem to treat ergatives like passives.

1994, Virginia Yip, “Grammatical Consciousness-raising and Learnability”, in Terence Odlin, editor, Perspectives on Pedagogical Grammar (Cambridge Applied Linguistics), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 128:

Combining two ergatives in one clause is not always ungrammatical in Agul; but one of the ergatives must be used in a non-agentive function, e.g. instrumental or temporal.

2012, Michael A. Daniel, Timur A. Maisak, Solmaz R. Merdanova, “Causatives in Agul”, in Pirkko Suihkonen, Bernard Comrie, Valery D. Solovyev, editors, Argument Structure and Grammatical Relations: A Crosslinguistic Typology (Studies in Language Companion Series; 126), Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 66:

(grammar) An ergative verb or other expression.


endocentric

The noun "houseboat" is endocentric because "boat" is also a noun.

(grammar, of a phrase or compound word) fulfilling the same grammatical role as one of its constituents.


enjambed

(grammar, of two syntactic units) continued without a pause


relativize

en-verb

relativize (third-person singular simple present relativizes, present participle relativizing, simple past and past participle relativized)

relativizes (present singular third-person)
relativizing (participle present)
relativized (participle past)
relativized (past)

to relativize indirect objects


snowclone

Blend of snow cone + clone, after the popular idea that the Inuit have a large number of words for different types of snow; coined by Glen Whitman in response to Geoffrey Pullum on the blog Language Log.

"To fry or not to fry" is a snowclone of the famous quotation from Shakespeare's Hamlet, "To be or not to be".

I stumbled upon the site the other day, when I was looking up the origins of the "Im not an X, but I play one on TV" snowclone.

2005 November 5, auuV, “Some articles that I like. They are about language,”, in alt.running.out.of.newsgroup.names (Usenet):

Suddenly snowclone hunters were documenting media usages suggesting that, in space, no one can hear you belch, bitch, blog, speak, squeak or suck.

2005 December 3, David Rowan, “"Snowclone" journalism”, Trendsurfing, in The Times, archived from the original on 2006-09-06:

Regular readers learned there first about snowclones, the basic building blocks of cliches, like "X is the new Y" or "you don't need a degree in A to do B."

2006 June 20, Michael Erard, “Analyzing Eggcorns and Snowclones, and Challenging Strunk and White”, in The New York Times, page F4:

If so, you're being snowed under by snowclones — a category of fill-in-the-blank cliché identified by linguists.

2006 July, Mark Peters, “Not Your Father's Cliché”, in Columbia Journalism Review, volume 45, number 2, page 14:

2006 Nov 18, unknown author, "Snowclone", in New Scientist 192(2578), page 80

When you read phrases like these in a newspaper, you've stumbled across a particular type of cliché: the snowclone.

(grammar, linguistics) A type of cliché which uses an old idiom formulaically placed in a new context.


verbalize

verbalize (third-person singular simple present verbalizes, present participle verbalizing, simple past and past participle verbalized)

verbalizes (present singular third-person)
verbalizing (participle present)
verbalized (participle past)
verbalized (past)

/ˈvəːbəlʌɪz/

Partly from Middle French verbaliser and partly from verbal + -ize.

(transitive, grammar) To adapt (a word of another part of speech) as a verb.


eclipsis

en-noun

eclipsis (countable and uncountable, plural eclipses)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔκλειψις (ékleipsis, “disappearance, abandoning”).

bor

(Irish grammar, Manx grammar) A mutation of the initial sound of a word by which voiceless sounds become voiced, voiced stops become nasal consonants, and vowels acquire a prothetic nasal consonant: see Appendix:Irish mutations#Eclipsis.


privative

en-adj

privative (comparative more privative, superlative most privative)

more privative (comparative)
most privative (superlative)

(grammar) indicating the absence of something


reciprocal pronoun

en-noun

reciprocal pronoun (plural reciprocal pronouns)

The English reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another.

(grammar) A pronoun referring to an antecedent in the plural, and expressing a mutual relation.


copular

a copular verb

(grammar) Being or relating to a copula.


nasalization

nasalization (countable and uncountable, plural nasalizations)


substantivise

en-verb

substantivise (third-person singular simple present substantivises, present participle substantivising, simple past and past participle substantivised)

substantivises (present singular third-person)
substantivising (participle present)
substantivised (participle past)
substantivised (past)

From substantive (noun and adjective) + -ise.

(grammar) To use as or convert into a substantive (noun).


amphiboly

en-noun

amphiboly (countable and uncountable, plural amphibolies)

From Old French amphibolie, from Latin amphibolia, from Ancient Greek ἀμφιβολία (amphibolía, “ambiguity”).

der

1781, Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason," from John Meiklejohn 1855 translation
Without this reflection I should make a very unsafe use of these conceptions, and construct pretended synthetical propositions which critical reason cannot acknowledge and which are based solely upon a transcendental amphiboly, that is, upon a substitution of an object of pure understanding for a phenomenon.

By logical errors I mean such simple things as Equivocation, Amphiboly, and Begging the Question.

1931, Adrian Coates, “Philosophy as Criticism and Point of View,”, in Philosophy, volume 6, number 23, page 339:

The language might be fraught with word ambiguity or sentence amphiboly.

1987, Jeffrey Buechner, “Radically Misinterpreting Radical Interpretation,”, in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, volume 45, number 4, page 410:

(grammar) An ambiguous grammatical construction.


antecedence

en-noun

antecedence (countable and uncountable, plural antecedences)

From Latin antecēdentia from Latin antecēdēns (“preceding”), from antecēdō (“go before”).

Sometimes this defect amounts to a blundering obliviousness of all antecedence. The following tearful reproof was given by a judge of the State of New York to a prisoner just convicted: “[…] nature has endowed you with a good education and respectable family connections, instead of which you go around the country stealing ducks.”

1895, Austin Phelps, Henry Allyn Frink, chapter 13, in Rhetoric: Its Theory and Practice, New York: Scribner, page 109:

The pronouns who and which and what, used interrogatively, […] may refer to a word or to words in the answer to a question, but their antecedence may be indefinite or unrevealed, even after the answer is given.

1941, John B. Opdycke, Harper’s English Grammar, New York: Popular Library, published 1965, Part 1, Chapter 2, p. 52:

(grammar) The relationship between a pronoun and its antecedent.


verbid

(grammar) A nonfinite verb form, such as, in English, an infinitive, participle, or gerund.


frequentative

From Late Latin frequentativus, from Latin frequentāre (“to do or use often”). Morphologically as if frequent + -ative. Akin to frequent.

der

"Crackle" is an English frequentative verb derived from "crack".

(grammar) Serving to express repetition of an action.

բազմապատկական

serving to express the frequent repetition of an action


frequentative

(grammar) Any of a subclass of imperfective verbs that denote a repeated action, no longer productive in English, but found in e.g. Finnish, Latin, Russian, and Turkish.

բազմապատկական

subclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action


instructive case

en-noun

instructive case (plural instructive cases)

(grammar): noun case used to indicate means. It answers the question "how?", and in English, this is usually expressed by the prepositional phrase by means of, as in "by means of the house". Languages that use the instructive case include Finnish and (rarely) Estonian.


comitative case

comitative case (plural comitative cases)

(grammar) Noun case used to denote companionship. In English, this is usually expressed by the prepositional phrase in company with, together with or with, as in "with the house." Languages that use the comitative case include Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Inari Sami, Northern Sami, Skolt Sami, and Quechua. It is also found in many Australian Aboriginal languages, where it is commonly used to form names of places and languages.


perfect passive participle

perfect passive participle (plural perfect passive participles)

(grammar) A participle, prominent in some languages (e.g. Latin, Greek) but less common in English, describing something that happened to a noun (the subject) in the past.


telic

en-adj

telic (comparative more telic, superlative most telic)

more telic (comparative)
most telic (superlative)

From the Ancient Greek τελῐκός (telikós, “final”), from τέλος (télos, “end”).

uder

1995, Michela Cennamo, Patterns of 'Active' Syntax in Late Latin Pleonastic Reflexives, John Charles Smith, Delia Bentley (editors), Historical Linguistics 1995: Selected Papers from the 12th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Volume 1: General Issues and Non-Germanic Languages, page 39,
In this framework, verbs denoting directed change of location, such as Italian andare 'go', instantiate Core Unaccusativity, in that they have a Theme subject and are the most telic, concrete, dynamic.

Similarly, verb forms that can govern either transitive or middle-case marking (cf. 2.1.3.1.2(c)) are more telic in their transitive manifestations.

2000, Niko Besnier, Tuvaluan: A Polynesian Language of the Central Pacific, published 2002, page 495:

Moreover, let us remember that some verbs can be telic and agentive at the same time: if one looks at the ASH category n°1 (change of location), i.e. the verbs considered the most telic, like FF arriver (arrive), partir (leave), venir (come), revenir (come back) (Sorace 2000:256), old Spanish huir (run away) and escapar (escape) (Legendre 2007), do they not bear an agentive component?

2015, Pierre-Don Giancarli, “Auxiliary selection with intransitive and reflexive verbs: the limits of gradience and scalarity, followed by a proposal”, in Rolf Kailuweit, Malte Rosemeyer, editors, Auxiliary Selection Revisited: Gradience and Gradualness, page 82:

(grammar) That expresses an end or purpose.


imperfect subjunctive

en-noun

imperfect subjunctive (plural imperfect subjunctives)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:imperfect subjunctive.

(grammar) The imperfect tense in the subjunctive mood.


present subjunctive

present subjunctive (plural present subjunctives)

(grammar) The present tense in the subjunctive mood.


alpha privative

alpha privative (plural alpha privatives)

(grammar) The prefix a- (or an- when prefixing a root which begins with a vowel) found in some English words of Greek derivation. It expresses negation or absence. The prefix has cognates in other Indo-European languages, including in- in Latin and un- in English, all traceable back to Proto-Indo-European *n̥-.

privatieve a

the prefix a- expressing negation or absence

(grammar) Either the aforementioned privative a or the Greek ἀ- (a-) itself (from which the English descendant derives).

(grammar) A word formed using such prefixes.


pro-sentence

(grammar) A function word or expression that substitutes for a whole sentence whose content is recoverable from the context.


relative superlative

relative superlative (plural relative superlatives)

degree of comparison
degree of comparison

(grammar) the superlative (a degree of comparison) when it is used to express the highest degree of something in relation to something else

Ο χειρότερος is the relative superlative form of κακός.

degrees of comparison
degrees of comparison

comparative superlative
comparative superlative

absolute superlative
absolute superlative

(grammar) In Greek: one of the degrees of comparison of an adjective, the equivalent in English of the superlative, similar to the comparative superlative used in Spanish. Compare with absolute superlative.


ablative absolute

ablative absolute (plural ablatives absolute or ablative absolutes)

ablatives absolute (plural)
ablative absolutes (plural)

(grammar) A construction in Latin and other sister languages in which an independent phrase with a noun in the ablative case has a participle, adjective, or noun, expressed or implied, which agrees with it in gender, number and case – both words forming a clause grammatically unconnected with the rest of the sentence.


cardinal numeral

cardinal numeral (plural cardinal numerals)

Cardinal Numerals, are thoſe which expreſs the Number of things, as One, Two, Three, Four; [...]

1706, Edward Phillips, compiler, J[ohn] K[ersey the younger], “Numerals”, in The New World of Words: Or, Universal English Dictionary. […], 6th edition, London: […] J. Phillips, […]; N. Rhodes, […]; and J. Taylor, […], →OCLC, column 1:

Numbers may be considered under their divisions — Cardinal, Ordinal, and Indefinite Numerals.

1872, Richard Morris, Historical outlines of English accidence, page 110:

The cardinal numeral ‘one’ occurs in the singular and is declined like bogàt.

1993, William W. Derbyshire, A Basic Reference Grammar of Slovene, Columbus, Ohio: Slavica Publishers, Inc., page 56:

Numerals cut across the division between syntax and morphology: cardinal numerals expressing numbers below 100 are single words, while those expressing higher numbers are syntactically composite.

2002, Laurie Bauer, Rodney Huddleston, “Lexical word-formation”, in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, page 1716:

In Latin most cardinal numerals through 100 are indeclinable adjectives.

2005 — F. M. Wheelock, Wheelock’s Latin, 6th ed. revised (New York: Harper Resources, 2005), p.97

(grammar) A word used to represent a cardinal number.

hooftelwoord

grammar: word used to represent a cardinal number


substantival

(grammar) Of or pertaining to a substantive.


multivalent

en-adj

multivalent (comparative more multivalent, superlative most multivalent)

more multivalent (comparative)
most multivalent (superlative)

This procedure can be justified by considering the difficult word or compound as a separate part of a sentence of which the (verbal) adjective is the multivalent predicate, i.e. able to bind more than one part of speech.

1993, Vienna Journal of South Asian Studies - Volume 37, page 83:

In general terms, each of the causative suffixes derives a multivalent verb having the meaning 'to cause/make to V', where V is a variable standing for the verbal action of the base.

2016, Chris Rogers, The Use and Development of the Xinkan Languages, →ISBN, page 125:

(grammar) Able to bind to different parts of speech.


noun clause

(grammar) a subordinate clause which functions as a subject or object of the main clause


polylectic

polylectic (comparative more polylectic, superlative most polylectic)

more polylectic (comparative)
most polylectic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, “a lot of, much”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *polh₁ús (“many, much”), from the root *pleh₁- (“to fill”)) + λέγειν (légein), from λέγω (légō, “to arrange, choose, gather; to count, reckon”) (from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather”)) + -ic.

der

A polylectic term is a multi-word term, as opposed to a monolectic term which is a one-word term.

(grammar) Of or relating to a term consisting of more than one word.


verb phrase

(grammar) A phrase that functions syntactically as a verb, consisting of a main verb and any auxiliaries.

sintagma verbal

Phrase that functions syntactically as a verb


dangling participle

en-noun

dangling participle (plural dangling participles)

(grammar) Any participle used as a dangling modifier.


agentive

(grammar) Indicating an agent or agency (as -er in lexicographer).

(grammar) Pertaining to a grammatical agent that performs the action of the verb.


pluterperfect

en-adj

pluterperfect (comparative more pluterperfect, superlative most pluterperfect)

more pluterperfect (comparative)
most pluterperfect (superlative)

The first pluterperfect will have none of them, but take quand, when, quand j'aurois eu, when I should have had.

1673, Claude Mauger, Claudius Mauger's French Grammar, page 182:

Sometimes a writer will establish the set-back by a brief use of the pluterperfect, and then slide undetected, he hopes— into the past again.

1964, Herbert Best, Writing for children, page 99:

...and renders all the present, and this present past, a more ancient and pluterperfect past than the Valley of the Kings, sir.

1975, Sol Yurick, An Island Death, page 31:

(grammar) Pertaining to action completed before or at a specific time.


predicable

(grammar, of an adjective) That may be used in the predicate of a sentence, especially following a form of the verb "to be".


subordinator

(grammar) Any of a lexical class of words that join clauses at a subordinate syntactic level.


modal case

(grammar) case to express ability, intention, necessity, obligation, permission, possibility, etc.

a modal auxiliary--example of the modal case in English


prolative case

(grammar) A declension, in some languages, of a noun or pronoun that has the basic meaning of "by way of".


prolative

prolative (comparative more prolative, superlative most prolative)

more prolative (comparative)
most prolative (superlative)

(grammar) extending or completing a predication


predicative

In the sentence, ‘This house is big’, ‘big’ is predicative, whereas in ‘This is a big house’, it is attributive.

Compound adjectives are typically hyphenated in attributive position (for example, 'a high-quality scan is a must'), whereas in predicative position, many house styles specify open styling (for example, 'this scan is high quality.'

(grammar, of an adjectival or nominal phrase) Modifying a noun while in a predicate phrase, which predicate phrase is other than the noun phrase and occurs after a verb, as a predicate; contrasted with attributive.


predicative

(grammar) An element of the predicate of a sentence which complements the subject or object by means of the verb. Predicatives may be nominal or adjectival.

表語

element of the predicate of a sentence which supplements the subject or object by means of the verb

A predicative in Russian is an uninflected word that regularly constitutes a complete utterance when standing alone, i.e., when preceded and followed by silence.

1957, Morton Benson, “The Problem of Predicatives in Russian”, in The Slavic and East European Journal, volume 1, number 4, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, page 285:

Traditional grammars usually differentiate between neuter short adjectives and predicatives based on whether there is an overt nominative subject; hence курение вредно ‘smoking (noun) is harmful’ is viewed as a clause with nominative subject, zero copula and neuter short form adjective that agrees with the subject in gender, whereas курить вредно (same meaning, literally ‘to smoke is harmful’) is often viewed as an impersonal clause with predicative.

2013, Sergey Say, “On the Nature of Dative Arguments in Russian Constructions with “Predicatives””, in I. Kor Chahine, editor, Current Studies in Slavic Linguistics (Studies in Language Companion Series), page 226:

(grammar) In some languages, a special part of speech used as a predicate and denoting a state of being.

предикати́в

a part of speech used as a predicate and denoting a state of being


deictic

deictic (comparative more deictic, superlative most deictic)

more deictic (comparative)
most deictic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek δεικτικός (deiktikós, “capable of proof”).

bor

(grammar) Of or pertaining to deixis; to a word whose meaning is dependent on context.


deictic

(grammar) Such a word (such as I or here).


pluralize

en-verb

pluralize (third-person singular simple present pluralizes, present participle pluralizing, simple past and past participle pluralized)

pluralizes (present singular third-person)
pluralizing (participle present)
pluralized (participle past)
pluralized (past)

The word "orange" can be pluralized into "oranges".

Nouns pluralize in English, but verbs do not.

(intransitive, grammar) To take a plural; to assume a plural form.


split an infinitive

split an infinitive (third-person singular simple present splits an infinitive, present participle splitting an infinitive, simple past and past participle split an infinitive)

splits an infinitive (present singular third-person)
splitting an infinitive (participle present)
split an infinitive (participle past)
split an infinitive (past)

(grammar) To produce a split infinitive.


adnoun

(grammar) an adjective used as a noun (sensu stricto); an absolute adjective (nominalized adjective).

3. An adjective or adnoun, expresses a particular quality ascribed to a substantive—A good man, a bad man, a studious man, a lazy man—The words good, bad, studious, and lazy, express the particular quality which belong to such or such a man.

1830, Thomas Nugent & J. Quiseau, A new Pocket Dictionary of the French and English Languages. In two Parts. 1. French and English.—2. English and French. Containing all the Words in general Use, and authorized by the best Writers. The Fifth American, from the last London Edition, Philadelphia, p.xii ("Section II: Of Grammar in general)")


adnominal

From ad- + nominal, by analogy with adverbial for verbs.

(grammar) Involving or relating to words that modify a noun.


adnominal

(grammar) The adnominal case: A word or phrase qualifying a noun, such as an adjective or a relative clause.


adnominal

The adjective form of adnoun, by analogy with the use of nominal as the adjective form of noun.

(grammar, dated) Of or pertaining to an adnoun (sensu stricto).


OVS

Object Verb Subject
w:Object Verb Subject

(grammar) Initialism of Object Verb Subject.


terminative case

en-noun

terminative case (plural terminative cases)

The Turkic languages, Hungarian, and Estonian languages have a terminative case.

(grammar) A form of declension that indicates at what point something ends.


ideophone

From ideo- + -phone. James F. Fordyce (The Ideophone as a Phonosemantic Class: The Case of Yoruba, in Current approaches to African linguistics, Ivan R. Dihoff (ed.), page 263) credits C. M. Doke with introducing the term in 1935.

1969 October, William J. Samarin, The Art of Gbeya Insults, in International Journal of American Linguistics 35(4), page 325, JSTOR
In insults the ideophone occurs either in its characteristic position, the verb phrase, or uncharacteristically as a modifier in a noun phrase.

(grammar) A word that uses sound symbolism to express aspects of events that can be experienced by the senses, like smell, color, shape, sound, action, or movement.


oratio obliqua

oratio obliqua (plural orationes obliquae)

From Latin ōrātiō ("speech, discourse, language") and oblīquus ("sidelong, slanting, awry, oblique").

That'-clauses in indirect speech or oratio obliqua are of course cases where I report what someone else or myself elsewhen or elsewhere did say …. - "How To Do Things With Words" (1962) by JL Austin (OUP paperback edition, 70-71)

(grammar) indirect speech/indirect statements


reduplicative

Grammatically, Malay uses reduplication for plurals (burung = bird, burung-burung = birds) and thus repeated words are commonly heard in Malay speech; in contrast, in English reduplicatives are much less frequent and often involve phoneme modulation (ding-dong; wham-bam).

2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 10:

(grammar) A word obtained by the process of reduplication.


anticausative

(grammar, of an intransitive verb) Which shows an action affecting its subject, without indicating the cause.

anticausativo

which shows an action affecting its subject, without indicating the cause


anticausative

(grammar) A verb or construction of this kind.


predictive

Borrowed from Latin praedictivus, from praedico. Equivalent to predict + -ive.

Also, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, predictive conditionals show a high degree of integration thanks to the patterns of verb forms which are characteristic for predictives and which normally do not mix freely with other, non-predictive forms.

1999, Barbara Dancygier, Conditionals and Prediction: Time, Knowledge and Causation in Conditional Constructions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, published 2004, →ISBN, page 76:

In contrast, English-speaking children appropriately differentiate if future predictives from when future predictives, a distinction relevant for English but not for, say, German.

2008, Virginia C. Mueller Gathercole, Routes to Language: Studies in Honor of Melissa Bowerman, page xiv:

(grammar) A conditional statement that includes a prediction in the dependent clause (e.g. "if it rains, the game will be cancelled", "give her an inch and she'll take a mile.").


determinative

(grammar) A member of a class of words functioning in a noun phrase to identify or distinguish a referent without describing or modifying it.


adjective phrase

adjective phrase (plural adjective phrases)

(grammar) A phrase that collectively modifies or describes a noun or pronoun and which can usually be used both attributively and predicatively, can be graded, and be modified by an adverb.

adjektiivilauseke

Phrase that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun


adverbial phrase

adverbial phrase (plural adverbial phrases)

prepositional phrase
prepositional phrase

(grammar) A phrase that collectively modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, or a prepositional phrase.


casal

a casal ending

casal affix

casal terminatiion


sigmate

en-verb

sigmate (third-person singular simple present sigmates, present participle sigmating, simple past and past participle sigmated)

sigmates (present singular third-person)
sigmating (participle present)
sigmated (participle past)
sigmated (past)

(transitive, grammar) To modify (a Greek word) by adding sigma, or by changing another letter to sigma.


present indicative

(grammar) The present tense in the indicative mood.


multiplicative

en-noun

multiplicative (countable and uncountable, plural multiplicatives)

From 6th-century Latin multiplicativus, from Classical Latin multiplicāre (“to multiply”).

(grammar) A grammatical adverbial case in Finnish.


delative

From the Latin deferre (“to bear or bring away or down”).

der

(grammar) A grammatical case of nouns used, chiefly in Hungarian, to express movement from the surface of something (like "moved off the table").


lative

(grammar) A case of verbs, found in the Uralic and Northern Caucasian languages, used to indicate motion to a location; in the Northern Caucasian languages, the lative also takes up functions of the dative case.


sublative

sub down (to) latus carry.
Perfect passive participle of sufferō (“carry down”).

(grammar) A case of nouns in Finno-Ugric languages used to express the destination of movement, originally onto the surface of something (e.g. climb onto a tree), and, by extension, in other figurative meanings as well (e.g. to university).

sublatiivi

a case of nouns used to express the destination of movement


sublative

en-adj

sublative (comparative more sublative, superlative most sublative)

more sublative (comparative)
most sublative (superlative)

(grammar) Of or relating to the sublative case.


temporal distributive

(grammar) Relating to a word or phrase that describes how an action is distributed over a period of time; e.g. the word "per" in once per week.


situative

situative (comparative more situative, superlative most situative)

more situative (comparative)
most situative (superlative)

(grammar) Expressing the location of things in comparison with one another, e.g. the word "to" in the phrase face to face.


copulative

(grammar) That connects the subject of a clause with its complement.


copulative

In Polysyndeton conjunctions flow,
And every word its copulative will shew.

1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 53:


n.

Alternative form: n


desinential inflection

en-noun

desinential inflection (plural desinential inflections)

ʾiʿrāb ʾiʿrāb

(grammar) ʾiʿrāb: a number of nominal, adjectival, and verbal inflectional endings, which are an integral part of Qur'anic and Classical Arabic, although they are generally not written and not pronounced in pausa or written but not pronounced.

إِعْرَاب

system of inflectional endings of Classical Arabic


parisyllabic

(grammar) Having the same number of syllables in all its inflections.


approximative

In Example 6, we can see speakers using the vague approximatives 'two or three' and 'one or two'.

2007, J. Cutting, Vague Language Explored, page 190:

(grammar) A grammatical construct that expresses approximation.


linker

(grammar) A word or short expression that links clauses or other syntactic elements.


appellative

From the Late Latin appellātīvus, from the stem appella- (“to call”), with the adjectival suffix -ive.

(grammar) Of or pertaining to an appellative noun or common noun.


periphrastic conjugation

periphrastic conjugation (plural periphrastic conjugations)

The active periphrastic conjugation in Latin is formed by using the future active participle and the appropriate form of "esse".

(grammar) A conjugation formed by the use of the simple verb with one or more auxiliaries.


pendent

en-adj

pendent (comparative more pendent, superlative most pendent)

more pendent (comparative)
most pendent (superlative)

From Middle English pendaunt, Anglo-Norman pendaunt, pendant, respelled to reflect Latin pendēns, pendentis, present participle of pendere (“to hang, to be suspended”). Compare pendant, which retained the spelling.

(grammar, of a sentence) Incomplete in some sense, such as lacking a finite verb.


summation plural

en-noun

summation plural (plural summation plurals)


substantively

en-adv

substantively (comparative more substantively, superlative most substantively)

more substantively (comparative)
most substantively (superlative)

(grammar, of a word) Employed as a noun.


complementation

en-noun

complementation (countable and uncountable, plural complementations)

(grammar) The relationship of a phrase to its predicate


copular verb

(grammar) A verb that links a subject to a complement that refers to the subject.


aversive

(grammar) A grammatical case indicating that something is avoided or feared; the evitative case.


progressive verb

progressive verb (plural progressive verbs)

(grammar) A form of a verb in which its gerund (or present participle) is used with any form of the verb "to be"


actant

Simultaneously coined in English and French by Bruno Latour from action + -ant

(grammar) Any of the participants, such as the subject or object, in a grammatical clause.

行動元

any of the participants in a grammatical clause


declinate

en-verb

declinate (third-person singular simple present declinates, present participle declinating, simple past and past participle declinated)

declinates (present singular third-person)
declinating (participle present)
declinated (participle past)
declinated (past)

Latin dēclīnātus, past participle of dēclīnō (“I decline”).


adposition

From ad- + position, from Latin adpositio, from adpositum, past participle of adponere, an alternative form of apponere (“to put near”).

Throughout this book, I have assumed that adpositions (prepositions and postpositions) are not lexical categories, but rather functional categories.[…]While this view of adpositions is far from unprecedented, it runs contrary to the more standard generative treatment, championed by Jackendoff (1977: 31-33), in which adpositions constitute a fourth lexical category, filling out the logical space of possibilities defined by the two binary-valued features #x2B;#x5C;#x21;#x2F;#x5C;#x21;#x5C;#x21;-#x5C;#x21;#x5C;#x21;#x5C;mathsfN and #x2B;#x5C;#x21;#x2F;#x5C;#x21;#x5C;#x21;-#x5C;#x21;#x5C;#x21;#x5C;mathsfV.

2003, Mark C. Baker, Lexical Categories: Verbs, Nouns and Adjectives, Cambridge University Press, page 303:

2008, Amani Bohoussou, Stavros Skopeteas, Grammaticalization of spatial adpositions in Nànáfwê, Elisabeth Verhoeven, Stavros Skopeteas, Yong-Min Shin, Yoko Nishina, Johannes Helmbrecht (editors), Studies on Grammaticalization, Walter de Gruyter (Mouton), page 77,
It is well known in West African linguistics that languages in this broad sense display adpositions that emerge out of these two sources, namely nouns and verbs.

By establishing adpositions as a constantly referred to but never really demonstrated language category, this book has provided a basis for the theory of the linguistic category.[…]Adpositions could be considered a clear-cut category if one relied on syntax only, for one simple reason: the are specialized in function-marking.

2010, Claude Hagège, Adpositions, Oxford University Press, page 332:

(grammar) An element that combines syntactically with a phrase and indicates how that phrase should be interpreted in the surrounding context; a preposition or postposition.

կապ

element combining with a phrase and indicating how to interpret the phrase in the context


-fix

The common element of prefix, suffix, and affix — all ultimately from Latin figere (“to fasten”).

infix ― attached within

circumfix ― attached around

(grammar) Forming nouns denoting a morpheme used in word formation joined to a word in the specified way

suffix ― append

prefix ― preface

(chiefly grammar) Forming verbs denoting fastening or attaching (something) in the specified way


circumfix

(grammar) An affix containing both a prefixing and a suffixing element existing as a single morphological unit.

циркумфикс

affix with both a prefixing and suffixing element


circumfix

circumfix (third-person singular simple present circumfixes, present participle circumfixing, simple past and past participle circumfixed)

circumfixes (present singular third-person)
circumfixing (participle present)
circumfixed (participle past)
circumfixed (past)

(grammar) Affix a circumfix to (a word).


present conditional

en-noun

present conditional (plural present conditionals)

Coordinate term: past conditional

(grammar, in reference to other languages) The present tense in the conditional mood.


incomplete sentence

incomplete sentence (plural incomplete sentences)

(grammar) A group of words that appear to convey only part of a complete thought, lacking some component which is grammatically necessary to complete the thought.

不完整的句子

a group of words which appears to convey only part of a complete thought (grammar)


declarative

[dɪˈklɛɹəɾɪv]

[dɪˈklæɹəɾɪv]

Palmer (1986:26–28) suggested that all languages have a clear way of indicating that the speaker is making a statement which (s)he believes to be true. Such statements are usually expressed by the declarative grammatical structure and the respective mood is called either "declarative" or "indicative"...

2016, Irina Nikolaeva, “Analyses of the semantics of mood”, in Jan Nuyts, Johan van der Auwera, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Modality and Mood, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 69:

(grammar, of a verb, sentence, or mood) Expressing truth.


pronominal verb

pronominal verb (plural pronominal verbs)

(linguistics, grammar) A form of verb that has an attached pronoun in some languages (e.g. French, Spanish).

verb pronominal

a form of verb that has an attached pronoun in some languages (e.g. French, Spanish)


hortative

en-adj

hortative (comparative more hortative, superlative most hortative)

more hortative (comparative)
most hortative (superlative)

From Latin hortātīvus, from hortor (“I exhort”).

(grammar, not comparable) Of a mood or class of imperative subjunctive moods of a verb for giving strong encouragement.

hortatiivinen

of a mood or class of imperative subjunctive moods of a verb for giving strong encouragement


hortative

(grammar) A mood or class of imperative subjunctive moods of a verb for giving strong encouragement.


dangler

/ˈdæŋɡlə(ɹ)/

Similarly, participles ending in “ing” often cause danglers in scientific writing: […]

2014, Silvia M. Rogers, Mastering Scientific and Medical Writing: A Self-help Guide, page 43:

(grammar, informal) A dangling participle.


predeterminer

(grammar) The function of a phrase that precedes a determiner in a noun phrase and modifies the head noun.


denominal

(grammar, linguistics) Denominative (deriving from a noun).


denominal

Coordinate term: deverbal

(grammar, linguistics) A denominative: a word, often a verb, that is derived from a noun or adjective.

denominaali

word that is derived from a noun or adjective


deverbative

(linguistics, grammar, rare) Derived from a verb.


deverbative

(linguistics, grammar, rare) A word or a component of a word that is derived from a verb.


deverbal

(grammar, linguistics) Derived from a verb.


deverbal

Coordinate term: denominal

(grammar, linguistics) A word, especially a substantive, that is derived from a verb.

deverbativum

a word, especially a substantive, that is derived from a verb


stative

Granted, then, that the original meaning of these verbs was stative, the fact that a number of them have more or less involuntary meaning admits of a ready explanation. From the idea of becoming, in which originally there was in all probability no idea of volition, the idea of becoming, happening independently of the will, might very readily be developed, and this may have taken place in the case of verbs with more or less involuntary meaning. After this involuntary type was once established, it is of course possible that it should have become independently productive, and that verbs expressing an involuntary action not derived from more original stative verbs should take the intransitive form. Such a process, however, does not seem to have taken place in Hebrew. The so-called intransitive verbs, therefore, to judge from the material in Hebrew, seem originally to have denoted states or conditions or a change of state, while the transitive verbs denoted actions.

1903 Frank R. Blake: So-Called Intransitive Verbal Forms in the Semitic Languages. Dissertation Submitted to the Johns Hopkins University. Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. xxiv, pp.145-204

2000James P. Allen: Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs. Cambridge University Press
The stative is a verb form used to express a state of being in which its subject is, was, or will be. Originally, the stative expressed the perfect tense: that is, completed action. By Middle Egyptian, however, other verb forms were used for that function, and the stative had come to express instead the result of a completed action. In this respect, the stative is similar to the English past participle. In the sentence The table is set, for example, the past participle set describes both a state in which its subject (the table) is and the result of a prior action (in this case, of someone setting the table). Because of this similarity, the stative is sometimes called the pseudoparticiple. The stative still retains its older meaning of completed action in one use in Middle Egyptian, and for this reason it is also known as the old perfective.

(grammar) Of a verb: asserting, generally intransitively, that a subject has a particular property or status.


stative

(grammar) A construct asserting that a subject has a particular property.


actional

actional (comparative more actional, superlative most actional)

more actional (comparative)
most actional (superlative)

(grammar, of a verb) Depicting an action having an agent and a patient.


suppletive

suppletive (comparative more suppletive, superlative most suppletive)

more suppletive (comparative)
most suppletive (superlative)

... of optimus, meaning “best,” which in turn is the superlative suppletive form of bonus, “good.”

1999, K. V. Tirumalesh, Grammar and Communication: Essays on the Form and Function of Language, page 237:

(grammar) Supplying an etymologically unrelated word with forms, or which is used as one of its forms, by suppletion (for example, in English, better and best are suppletive forms of good).

suppletiivinen

which supplies an etymologically unrelated word with forms, or which is used as one of its forms


suppletive

(grammar) A form used by way of suppletion.


weak declension

en-noun

weak declension (plural weak declensions)

(grammar) The declension pattern of a weak noun.


comma splice

(grammar) Two independent clauses combined into a run-on sentence with only a comma between them.


frequentative aspect

(grammar) A subclass of imperfective verbs that denotes a continuously repeated action. An example in English would be the frequentative verb to crackle, as opposed to the nonfrequentative to crack.

fréquentatif

grammatical subclass of the imperfective aspect


subjunctive mood

subjunctive mood (plural subjunctive moods)

From subjunctive (from Latin subjunctivus, from sub- (“under”) + junctus (“joined”), perfect passive participle of jungere (“to join”) + adjective suffix -ivus) + mood (from Latin modus).

(grammar) Mood expressing an action or state which is hypothetical or anticipated rather than actual, including wishes and commands.

subjunktiivi

esp. applied for English and descendants of Latin

felszólító mód

see also Usage notes of the latter article


bahuvrihi

Transliteration of Sanskrit बहुव्रीहि (bahuvrīhi, “rich, wealthy”, literally “(possessing) much rice”), itself an example of a bahuvrihi.

translit

Considerable discrepancies prevail with regard to the word मूचिीः which the Calcutta edition and all the authorities except the Bombay copy and No. VI. read without the visarga. It has subsequently been inserted in Mr. [Charles] Wilkins' ms., and is clearly required by the sense, as तोजोमूचिीः is a bahuvrihi or compound epithet.

1825, [Svayambhuva Manu], “[Notes.] Chap. III.”, in Graves Chamney Haughton, editor, Mánava-Dherma-Sástra; or The Institutes of Menu, volume I (Sanscrit Text), London: Printed by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, →OCLC, page 340:

The drift of this paribâshâ, as Patañjali explains it, is to show that Bahuvrîhi compounds (in English comparable to adjective compounds like lightfoot—i.e. one who possesses light feet,—or blueeye-d, &c.) are of two kinds, the one expressing a quality or an attribute which is essential, and the other expressing a quality or an attribute which is not essential, to the subject so predicated by the compound. Thus, as Patañjali illustrates, if you say: 'there march the priests having red turbans on,' the Bahuvrîhi lohitoshńísháh 'having red turbans on' implies here an essential quality of the priests, since this quality cannot be disconnected from their appearance as they march.

1870 June 8, Th[eodor] Goldstücker, “Appendix to Page 18”, in On the Deficiencies in the Present Administration of Hindu Law; being a Paper Read at the Meeting of the East India Association on the 8th of June, 1870, London: Trübner and Co., 60, Paternoster Row, published 1871, →OCLC, page 48, footnote †:

It would therefore not be surprising if unambiguous bahuvrihi morphology were to be used occasionally in a governing compound.

1986, Alan J[effrey] Nussbaum, Head and Horn in Indo-European (Untersuchungen zur indogermanischen Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft [Studies in Indo-European Language and Culture], New Series; 2), Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 273:

At the same time, none of the extended adjectival bahuvrihis has its linear counterpart in either poem. This is characteristic of the general situation in Old English. Neither the correspondence between the linear and the reversed bahuvrihis nor the relation between the linear and the extended bahuvrihis is symmetrical, […]

1997, Prague Studies in English (Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Philologica), volume XXII, Prague: Universita Karlova, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16:

The fourth subcategory of exocentric compounds are the infamous bahuvrihi constructions, such as hunchback, paleface, scatterbrain. [Hans] Marchand defines these as expressions which denote somebody (or something) which can be characterised by the feature expressed by the compound. Thus, bahuvrihi compounds have some kind of an identifying function. Marchand provides the following explanation for the origins of bahuvrihi compounds: they were used very early in Indo-European languages, primarily for namegiving, but most of them functioned only as adjectives.

2006, Réka Benczes, Creative Compounding in English: The Semantics of Metaphorical and Metonymical Noun-Noun Combinations (Human Cognitive Processing; 19), Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 19:

(grammar, also attributive) A type of nominal compound in which the first part modifies the second but neither part alone conveys the intended meaning.


simple sentence

en-noun

simple sentence (plural simple sentences)

(grammar) A sentence that contains one independent clause and no dependent clause.

պարզ նախադասություն

sentence containing one independent clause and no dependent clause


inflectional

en-adj

inflectional (comparative more inflectional, superlative most inflectional)

more inflectional (comparative)
most inflectional (superlative)

(grammar) Of or pertaining to inflection.


applicative

It remains a puzzle why some languages allow multiple applicatives while others prohibit them. In Salish, examples of multiple applicatives are attested in Columbian, Lushootseed, Tillamook, and the three Northern Interior languages.

2010, Kaoru Kiyosawa, Donna Gerdts, Salish Applicatives, page 370:

(grammar) A grammatical construct that casts a peripheral noun phrase as direct object.


adjunctive

coordinating conjunction
coordinating conjunction

(grammar) A connector joining two components of the same weight, such as a coordinating conjunction.


volitive

From Medieval Latin volitivus (from volo (“want”) + -ivus), a Scholastic translation of the Ancient Greek θελητικός (thelētikós), from θέλησις (thélēsis, “a will, a willing”).

(grammar, of a verb) In the volitive; expressing a wish.


nullar

(grammar) Pertaining to a language form referring to none of something; compare singular used for one and plural for more than one.


quadral

en-noun

quadral (countable and uncountable, plural quadrals)

From New Latin quadrālis, from quadru- (“four-”) + -ālis.

These are the three best claims for quadrals. There are several false trails in the literature, that is, suggestions of other Austronesian languages with quadrals, which turn out in fact to have four number values not five.

2000, Greville G. Corbett, Number, page 30:

Likewise, expression of quadral is accomplished in the same way by establishing specific locations or points in signing space.

2003, Merilin Miljan, “Number in Estonian Sign Language”, in TRAMES, volume 7, number 3, page 207:

While the coding of the person distinctions in Tolai is not as transparent as in Tok Pisin, the coding of number shows obvious relations to the number words of this language […] perhaps evidence of a quadral that was generalized to a plural.

2006, Manfred Krifka, “A Note on the Pronoun System and the Predicate Marker in Tok Pisin”, in Form, Structure, and Grammar: A Festschrift Presented to Günther Grewendorf on Occasion of His 60th Birthday, page 80:

Another point is that, judging from the existing descriptions, true trials are extremely rare and true quadrals do not exist.

2009, Michael Cysouw, The Paradigmatic Structure of Person Marking, page 203:

The number categories of JSL pronouns are singular, dual, trial, quadral and plural.

2015, Keren Cumberbatch, “Jamaican Sign Language”, in Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook, page 517:

(grammar) A grammatical number referring to four (or more) things.


quadral

[…] in Konomala, Patpatar, Tolai, Kandas, Duke of York and Siar of New Ireland, these quadral forms have replaced the original plurals.

1988, Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, page 101:

In some languages, such as Kenyah, a true quadral number also occurs in the pronoun system.

2009, Robert Blust, The Austronesian Languages, page 64:

In several cases, plural pronouns clearly derive from historical trial and quadral forms.

2014, David Christopher Kamholz, Austronesians in Papua: Diversification and Change in South-Halmahera-West New Guinea, page 120:

(grammar) Referring to four (or more) things; of, in or relating to the quadral grammatical number.


adverbative

"Verbs have an adverbative form made by attaching -게 to the base."

2002, Ross King et al., Continuing Korean, page 211:

(grammar) Functioning as an adverb; adverbial.


factive

(grammar, of a verb) Licensing only those content clauses that represent claims that are (known or believed with certainty to be) true.


reiterative

(grammar) A word signifying repeated action.


gender-neutral

en-adj

gender-neutral (comparative more gender-neutral, superlative most gender-neutral)

more gender-neutral (comparative)
most gender-neutral (superlative)

kønsneutral

not having, indicating, or being restricted on the basis of, gender

Not having, indicating, or being restricted on the basis of, gender.

(grammar) In particular, in languages where words are assigned to one grammatical gender or another: lacking such an assignment.


atelic

(grammar) That expresses lacking an end, resolution, or finite purpose.


aptotic

aptotic (comparative more aptotic, superlative most aptotic)

more aptotic (comparative)
most aptotic (superlative)

To become as they'd say out here aptotic, uninflected, unable, sometimes, to tell subject from object.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 282:

(grammar, linguistics, now rare) Uninflected.


enation

en-noun

enation (countable and uncountable, plural enations)

From Latin enatus (ēnātus) (from ēnāscor (“spring forth”)) + English + -ion.


monopersonal

Grammars of several languages traditionally list a subcategory of monopersonal verbs that occur only in the third-person but not in the first or second. Some such verbs do not even occur in the third-person plural. For instance, Finnish has several subtypes of monopersonal verbs, here all listed in the third person singular (marked by lenghthening of the stem-vowel): […]

2000, G. E. Booij, Christian Lehmann, Joachim Mugdan, Morphology, Walter de Gruyter, page 650:

(grammar) Having only one grammatical person.


uncomparable

en-adj

uncomparable (comparative more uncomparable, superlative most uncomparable)

more uncomparable (comparative)
most uncomparable (superlative)

From Middle English uncomparable; equivalent to un- + comparable.


uncountably

From uncountable + -ly or un- + countably.

Some nouns can be used both countably and uncountably.


hodiernal

From hodiern (“of this day, present-day”) + -al (suffix forming adjectives). Hodiern is derived from Latin hodiernus (“of today, today’s; present, present-day; actual”), from hodiē (“today”) (from hōc (“this (thing)”) + diē (“day”) (ultimately Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“to be bright; heaven, sky”))) + -rnus (suffix forming adjectives).

der

But after all that can be ſaid of the Doctrine of the Greek Church, one may in a great Meaſure apply to the hodiernal Grecians, not only what was ſaid of the Grecians by St. Paul, Tit[us] 1. 12, 13. but alſo what the Pagan Satyriſt declares of them in general, Græculus eſuriens in cœlum, juſſeris, ibit. [A hungry Greek will go into heaven, if you command. — Juvenal, Satire III.]

1716, M[yles] D[avies], “A Supplement to the Dissertation upon the Latin Drama, Styl’d, Pallas Anglicana; […]”, in Athenæ Britannicæ: Or, A Critical History of the Oxford and Cambridge Writers and Writings, […], London: Printed for the author, →OCLC, part III, pages 39–40:

Thus to make ſounds, with bold pretence, / Paſs with the gaping croud for ſenſe, / As, deck'd in plumes of gaudy hue, / The jackdaw would be peacock too; / Theſe patch up (well Reviewers know it) / In hodiernal phraſe, a poet.

1765, William Stevenson, “Poetical Characteristics; or, An Estimate of the Advantages of Rhyming. In Three Cantos.”, in Original Poems on Several Subjects. In Two Volumes, volume II, Printed by A[lexander] Donaldson and J[ohn] Reid. […], →OCLC, canto I, page 27:

And the ſaid Orphan Boys ſhall [...] alſo be aggregated to the Maſter Carpenters and Calkers, who ſhall be obliged to take one of theſe (in the Places where they ſhall work) beſides the Apprentice which they preciſely are to teach, and ſhall feed and clothe him until he be fit for a Journeyman, and gain as ſuch hodiernal Wages; [...]

1793, Wyndham Beawes, “His Majesty’s Ordinances for the Military, Civil, and Economical Government of His Fleet: With His Motives for Reducing Them to One Body”, in A Civil, Commercial, Political, and Literary History of Spain and Portugal. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: R. Faulder, […]; E. Jeffrey, […]; B. Law, […]; and J. Sewell, […], →OCLC, chapter CXXXVII, page 538:

"Credit me, fairest lady," said the knight, "that such is the cunning of our English courtiers of the hodiernal strain, that, as they have infinitely refined upon the plain and rusticial discourse of our fathers, [...] so I hold it ineffably and unutterably improbable, that those who may succeed us in that garden of wit and courtesy shall alter or amend it.["]

1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter II, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, pages 48–49:

Literature is a point outside of our hodiernal circle, through which a new one may be described. The use of literature is to afford us a platform whence we may command a view of our present life, a purchase by which we may move it.

1841, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay X. Circles.”, in Essays, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, pages 257–258:

In truth, a purpose always is fulfill'd, / When hodiernal miracles are will'd; / They still proclaim the Being Personal / Who moves behind accomplishing them all.

1868, Kenelm Henry Digby, “The Supernatural”, in Hours with the First Falling Leaves, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 47:

D. Conrada, still in her teens, was the mother of three children and the widow of a tropeiro: she made coffee, warmed our beef, and sat chatting with us till we slept—a rare and recordable incident of hodiernal Brazilian travel in the Far West.

1869, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “Santa Lucia to Jaguára”, in Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil; […], volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 21:

Why not sempiternal / Thou and I? Our vernal / Brightness keeping, / Time outleaping: / Passed the hodiernal!

1898, Thomas Hardy, “To Outer Nature”, in Wessex Poems and Other Verses, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, stanza 6, page 151:

[...] Mr. Weaver is the first consistently to employ the hodiernal speech of the American mass for serious narrative and lyric uses.

1921 May, John V. A. Weaver, “A Poem in American”, in Frank Crowninshield, editor, Vanity Fair, volume 16, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Vanity Fair Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 26:

Almost without exception, verbs in this tense are used to refer to events that have taken place during the same day or during the preceding night. It may therefore be called the ‘past today’ tense, or the ‘hodiernal’ tense (from the Latin word for ‘today’).

1965, “Unit 10”, in Earl W[ilson] Stevick, editor, Shona: Basic Course […] (Foreign Service Institute Basic Course Series), Washington, D.C.: Foreign Service Institute, Department of State, →OCLC, page 100:

Now that it is clear that hodiernal past, hesternal past and remote past are purely temporal categories, it must be established how exactly they divide the timeline. The difference between hodiernal and hesternal past is rigid and is based on objective grounds, i.e. on actual time rather than perceived temporal distance. The hodiernal past is used only for situations that occurred on the same day as the temporal reference point.

2008, Mark L. O. Van de Velde, “Tense, Aspect, Mood and Negation”, in A Grammar of Eton (Mouton Grammar Library; 46), Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, →ISSN, section 2.1.1 (Tense), page 234:

In apparently all tonal Bantu languages, the tonal system is augmented by tone patterns associated with certain grammatical categories, especially verb tenses, which are usually realized as the positioning of additional tones in some position in the stem. These are referred to as melodic H patterns. [...] For example, in Kerewe, the remote past and hodiernal perfective in (58a) have whatever H is lexically present on the root (plus tone doubling).

2015 December, David Odden, “Bantu Phonology”, in Oxford Handbooks Online, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →DOI, archived from the original on 2020-06-26, section 4.3 (Melodic Tones):

(archaic or literary, rare outside grammar) Of or pertaining to the present day or today; hodiern.

actueel

of or pertaining to the present day or today


DG

dependency grammar
dependency grammar#English

(grammar) Initialism of dependency grammar.


regular verb

(grammar) A verb which conjugates regularly. In English, a verb which uses an -ed suffix to form its past participle.


future continuous

(grammar) A tense used to express an ongoing action in the future. In English it is formed by use of will be (or shall be) and a present participle.


past perfect continuous

(grammar) A tense that expresses an unbroken action continuing up to a certain time in the past. In English it is formed by using had been with a present participle.


present perfect progressive

en-noun

present perfect progressive (plural present perfect progressives)

present perfect continuous
present perfect continuous


future perfect continuous

future perfect continuous (plural not attested)

(grammar) A tense used to express an ongoing action completed after some time in the future; in English formed by use of will have been (or shall have been) and a present participle.

folyamatos befejezett jövő

grammar: a tense used to express an ongoing action completed after some time in the future


present perfect continuous

present perfect continuous (uncountable)

(grammar) A tense that expresses an unbroken action continuing at the present time, started in the past. In English it is formed by using have been with a present participle.

kestoperfekti

nastojáščeje soveršénnoje neprerývnoje vrémja

настоя́щее соверше́нное непреры́вное вре́мя

nastojáščeje soveršénnoje prodólžennoje vrémja

настоя́щее соверше́нное продо́лженное вре́мя


adnominally

(grammar) In an adnominal way; used like an adnoun, adjectivally.


undeclined

(grammar, of a word) Not varied by declension.


conjunctive mood

conjunctive mood (plural conjunctive moods)

From the notion of uncertainity and doubt being a prevailing one in the conjunctive mood, has arisen in most languages its use in givin an opinion; as 'I should say,' &c.

1868, Edward Thring, On the Principles of Grammar:


imperative mood

imperative mood (plural imperative moods)

Go to the gates of Bourdeaux, trumpeter: Summon their general unto the wall.

1591, Shakespeare, King Henry VI, part 1:

According to the definition of the imperative, this mood can express nothing but a command. Yet verbs of imperative form may also express entreaty or permission, as may, indeed, the indicative and the generally so-called potential.

(grammar) The grammatical mood generally expressing a command, though also used to express a request or permission.


grammatical mood

grammatical mood (plural grammatical moods)

(grammar) A type of the relationship of a verb with reality and intent.


parasynthetic

From Ancient Greek παρασύνθετος (parasúnthetos), from παρά (pará, “beside”) + σύνθετος (súnthetos, “compound, composite”).

uder

παρασύνθετος

(grammar) Being a compound word formed by parasynthesis, i.e. by adding several affixes simultaneously, without “intermediate” forms.


commissive mood

en-noun

commissive mood (plural commissive moods)

(grammar) A grammatical mood that indicates promises or threats.


orientative

From orientate + -ive or orient + -ative.

The orientative case indicates that an entity or event is oriented towards or around the referent.

2011 July 15, Dibella Wdzenczny, “The case for fewer cases in pre-chukotko-kamchatkan: Grammaticalization and semantics in internal reconstruction”, in Digital Commons @ EMU, retrieved 2022-02-28, Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations: 333:

(grammar) Transmitting the sense of orientation towards an entity.


avalent

(grammar, rare, of a verb or predicate) Non-valent, having valency zero: taking no arguments.


configurational

(grammar) Of a language: having a relatively fixed style of grammar where the subject of a sentence is outside the finite verb phrase but the object is inside it.


injunctive

injunctive (countable and uncountable, plural injunctives)

(grammar, uncountable) A verbal mood in Sanskrit characterized by secondary endings but no augment, and usually resembling an augmentless aorist or imperfect.

(grammar, countable) A verbal lexeme in injunctive mood.


injunctive

(grammar) Pertaining to the injunctive mood.


desiderative

en-adj

desiderative (comparative more desiderative, superlative most desiderative)

more desiderative (comparative)
most desiderative (superlative)


desiderative

(linguistics, grammar) A verbal mood that has the meaning of “wanting to do something”, found in languages such as Ancient Greek and Sanskrit; the optative.


syndetic

asyndetic

antonym(s) of “grammar & library science”

From Latin syndeticus, from Ancient Greek συνδετικός (sundetikós), from σύνδετον (súndeton, “syndeton, use of conjunctions, a binding”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic: forming adjectives”), the neuter substantive of σῠ́νδετος (súndetos, “bound, joined”), from συνδεῖν (sundeîn, “to join, to bind”), from σῠν- (sun-, “together”) + δεῖν (deîn, “to bind, to tie”). Equivalent to syndeton + -ic.

Guns and butter is a syndetic phrase.

1970, Mats Ryden, Coordination of Relative Clauses in Sixteenth Century English, page 73:

Asymmetry in pronominal sequencing is a recurrent feature of syndetic coordination, though with considerable variation in relation to literary genre.

(grammar) Of or related to syndeton, the use of a conjunction.

With the syndetic juxtaposition of distinct members, the article is not often repeated.

1874, Clair James Grece translating Eduard Adolf F. Maetzner as An English Grammar

(grammar) Synonym of connective, serving to connect.


no changer

(grammar) A word that does not change its form (for a noun, from singular to plural; for a verb, according to person; etc.).


past participial

Coordinate term: present participial

(grammar) of, or relating to, the past participle


v.i.

(grammar) verb intransitive or intransitive verb (often appears in dual language dictionaries)


noun adjunct

en-noun

noun adjunct (plural nouns adjunct or noun adjuncts)

nouns adjunct (plural)
noun adjuncts (plural)

Noun adjuncts form the first elements of hundreds of compound nouns in American English (bird house, ball field, name brand, and fieldhouse); […]

1993, Kenneth G. Wilson, The Columbia Guide to Standard American English, page 300:

(grammar) A noun that modifies another noun (thus functioning adjectivally) and that is optional; it may be a single word or a compound noun or noun phrase.


attributive noun

attributive noun (plural attributive nouns)

noun adjunct

(grammar) Synonym of noun adjunct (“a noun that modifies another noun attributively”)

歸屬名詞

(grammar, when referring to a language other than English) A noun denoting bearer of a quality or an attribute of a subject, in reference to the lexical morpheme from which it is derived.


futural

en-adj

futural (comparative more futural, superlative most futural)

more futural (comparative)
most futural (superlative)


compound imperative

en-noun

compound imperative (plural compound imperatives)

e.g. speak now or forever hold your peace

(grammar) Two or more imperative clauses joined in a single sentence

e.g. (in Italian) portiamoglieli - let's take them to him

(grammar, in some languages) A word constructed from the imperative of a verb plus one or more pronouns


futurate

The verbs in sentences like "School starts next month", "I'm meeting him at 6:00 tomorrow", and "I thought the party was next week" are futurate uses.

(grammar) The use of a non-future-tense verb to express future time. In English, typically this refers to present-tense verbs.


adverbial number

adverbial number (plural adverbial numbers)

"Twice" is an adverbial number, while "two" is a cardinal number.

(grammar) A word that expresses a countable number of times; an adverbial numeral.


limitative

en-adj

limitative (comparative more limitative, superlative most limitative)

more limitative (comparative)
most limitative (superlative)

(grammar) Being or relating to a grammatical case that specifies a deadline, a time by which something must take place.


distributive number

en-noun

distributive number (plural distributive numbers)

"Singly" is a distributive number, while "single" is a multiplier.

(grammar) A word that answers "how many times each?" or "how many at a time?"


syntaxis

syntaxis (countable and uncountable, plural syntaxes)

From the Late Latin syntaxis, from the Ancient Greek σύνταξις (súntaxis). Doublet of syntax.


plural noun

(grammar) The plural form of a common noun

(grammar) A noun that inherently refers to multiple items


duoplural

(grammar) Pertaining to grammatical number (as in singular and plural), referring to two or more of something; nonsingular.


duoplural

Languages that employ the duoplural include Navajo and Taos, where the verb shows singular, dual, and plural numbers, but the nouns are marked only as singular or nonsingular (duoplural).

(linguistics, grammar) Duoplural number; the grammatical number of a noun marking two or more of something.


XP

X is a variable which can stand for letters representing parts of speech such as: N (noun), V (verb), P (preposition), etc.

(grammar, X-bar theory) Initialism of X Phrase. (a phrase which consists of either: (1) an optional specifier and an X-bar phrase, or (2) a conjunction sandwiched between two other XPs. The X is a "pro-letter" which can be substituted by letters such as N for noun, V for verb, P for preposition, I for inflectional, etc.)


subject complement

subject complement (plural subject complements)

In the sentence "That is a flying car!", 'that' is the subject and 'flying car' is the subject complement.

In the sentence "That house seems haunted!", 'that house' is the subject and 'haunted' is the subject complement (in this case an adjective).

(grammar) A complement which is coupled to a subject.


object complement

object complement (plural object complements)

In the sentence "Venezuela declared herself independent of Spain first", 'herself' is the object and 'independent of Spain' is the complement.

(grammar) A complement which is coupled to an object.


sentence element

sentence element (plural sentence elements)

(grammar) In certain approaches to grammar, a part of the sentence, classified as one of subject, predicate, object, predicative and adverbial.


nomen agentis

nomen agentis (plural nomina agentis or nomina agentium)

nomina agentis (plural)
nomina agentium (plural)

Learned borrowing from Latin nōmen agentis.


conjunctive adverb

en-noun

conjunctive adverb (plural conjunctive adverbs)

A conjunction links two clauses in one sentence, whereas a conjunctive adverb links ideas in different sentences.

(grammar) An adverb that connects two clauses; linking adverb.


context-sensitive

(grammar) Involving transformations that are affected by more of the sentence than merely the section under scrutiny.

kontekstiherkkä

involving transformations that are affected by more of the sentence than merely the section under scrutiny

We introduce two new techniques for proving termination of context-sensitive rewriting.

context-sensitive grammar
context-sensitive grammar

(grammar) Relating to a context-sensitive grammar.


perfectiveness

(grammar) The state or quality of being perfective


imperfectiveness

(grammar) The state or quality of being imperfective


concessive

(grammar) A phrase or clause that acts as a concession, such as "even if" or "although".


imperatival

en-adj

imperatival (comparative more imperatival, superlative most imperatival)

more imperatival (comparative)
most imperatival (superlative)

(grammar) Of or pertaining to the imperative mood.


absolutive

(grammar) Of or pertaining to the grammatical case used to indicate the patient or experiencer of a verb’s action.


absolutive

(grammar) The absolutive case, or a phrase that uses it.

(grammar) An uninflected verb form used to indicate another action performed by the subject of the principal verb.


substantive adjective

en-noun

substantive adjective (plural substantive adjectives)

(grammar) An adjective used alone in the absence of the noun that it modifies.


derivational

en-adj

derivational (comparative more derivational, superlative most derivational)

more derivational (comparative)
most derivational (superlative)

(grammar) Of or pertaining to derivation; relating to that which is derived.


infinitive of purpose

en-noun

infinitive of purpose (plural infinitives of purpose)

"I bought a pen and some paper to write a note" is an example of an infinitive of purpose.

(grammar) The use of the "to" infinitive form of a verb in answer to the implied question "why?".


monotransitivity

(grammar) The state or quality of being monotransitive


ditransitivity

(grammar) The state or quality of being ditransitive


intransitivity

(grammar) The state or quality of being intransitive


aspectual

Perfective have and progressive be are together known as Aspectual Auxiliaries, since they mark Aspect (viz. whether an action is in progress or has been completed).

1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 152:

(grammar) Of or pertaining to grammatical aspect.


binary noun

(grammar) A type of plural-only noun denoting an object which consists of two parts joined together, e.g., scissors, pants, eyeglasses.


futurize

en-verb

futurize (third-person singular simple present futurizes, present participle futurizing, simple past and past participle futurized)

futurizes (present singular third-person)
futurizing (participle present)
futurized (participle past)
futurized (past)

(transitive, grammar) To bring into the future tense.


circumfixal

First, a number of languages do not have a single negation morpheme but have a circumfixal morpheme.

1997, Ferdinand de Haan, The Interaction of Modality and Negation:


ingressive

en-adj

ingressive (comparative more ingressive, superlative most ingressive)

more ingressive (comparative)
most ingressive (superlative)

(grammar) Aspectually indicating that an action is about to be entered or is in the process of being entered.


invariant noun

(grammar) A noun in which number is not marked; that is, a noun which does not change form in the plural, such as, in English, fish and series.


definitize

en-verb

definitize (third-person singular simple present definitizes, present participle definitizing, simple past and past participle definitized)

definitizes (present singular third-person)
definitizing (participle present)
definitized (participle past)
definitized (past)

(transitive, grammar) To make definite (of e.g. a noun or adjective)


passivize

passivize (third-person singular simple present passivizes, present participle passivizing, simple past and past participle passivized)

passivizes (present singular third-person)
passivizing (participle present)
passivized (participle past)
passivized (past)

(transitive, US, grammar) To render into the passive form.


passivise

passivise (third-person singular simple present passivises, present participle passivising, simple past and past participle passivised)

passivises (present singular third-person)
passivising (participle present)
passivised (participle past)
passivised (past)

(British, grammar) To render into the passive form.

whakahāngū

To render or convert into the passive form


essive-formal

(grammar) A case in Hungarian that combines the essive case and the formal case, and can express position, task, state (e.g. "as a tourist") or manner (e.g. "like a hunted animal").

Essiv-Formal

the case that combines the essive and formal cases, expressing the position, task, state, or manner


essive-modal

(grammar) The essive-modal case. In the Hungarian language this case can express the state, capacity, task in which somebody is or which somebody has (essive case, e.g. "as a reward", "for example"), or the manner in which the action is carried out, or the language which somebody knows (modal case, e.g. "unexpectedly", "speak English").

Essiv-Modal

the case that expresses the state, capacity, task in which somebody is or the manner in which the action is carried out


causal-final

(grammar) The causal-final case. This case in the Hungarian language combines the causal case and the final case. It can express the cause of emotions (e.g. value someone for something) or the goal of actions (e.g. "kenyérért" for bread).


tagmeme

(grammar) The smallest functional element in the grammatical structure of a sentence.


procatalepsis

/ˌpɹəʊkætəˈlɛpsɪs/

From Latin procatalepsis (“anticipating and answering an objection”), from Ancient Greek προκατάληψις (prokatálēpsis, “seizing in advance”).

der

προκατάληψις


equative

(grammar) A construction showing an equal quality. In English, this is normally formed using as. For example, the equative of happy is as happy as.

(grammar) A grammatical case in certain languages, including Ossetic and Sumerian, that indicates something is like something else. English equivalents include he was the same age as her and he looks like him.


equative

(grammar) Of, pertaining to, or being an equative.


cislocative

(grammar) Indicating motion toward the deictic center, often the speaker.


cislocative

(grammar) A grammatical structure of this kind.


translocative

(grammar) Indicating motion away from the deictic center, often the speaker.


presentational

(grammar) A clause using existential "there" with a verb other than a form of "be", as in "There followed a brief silence".


second conditional

en-noun

second conditional (plural second conditionals)

"If I had a billion dollars, I would buy a medieval castle" involves a second conditional.

(language education, grammar) A structure used to talk about improbable or impossible events in the present or future, containing an "if" clause (with a verb in the simple past) and a main clause (with would + an infinite verb).


zero conditional

zero conditional (plural zero conditionals)

"If it rains, the ground gets wet" is an example of a zero conditional.

(language education, grammar) A structure used to talk about general truths or facts, containing an "if" clause (with a verb in the present tense) and a main clause (with a verb in the present tense).


third conditional

third conditional (plural third conditionals)

"If Columbus hadn't discovered America, he wouldn't have been famous" is an example of the third conditional.

(language education, grammar) A structure used to talk about unreal or unfulfilled events in the past, containing an "if" clause (with a verb in the past perfect) and a main clause (with would + the bare perfect infinitive of a verb).


first conditional

first conditional (plural first conditionals)

"If it rains tomorrow, I will wear my coat" is a first conditional sentence.

(language education, grammar) A structure used to talk about possible events in the present or future, containing an "if" clause (with a verb in the present tense) and a main clause (with the future expressed by will + an infinitive verb).


t-prothesis

(Irish grammar) Replacement of an initial s sound with a t sound.


negator

From negate + -or, or directly from Latin negātor.

(grammar) A word (or other structural element) which causes negation (such as the word not in English).


quotative

(grammar) A grammatical device to mark quoted speech, such as be like in "he was like, 'who are you?'".


quotative

(grammar) Serving to mark quoted speech.


syndeton

(grammar, rhetoric) The use of conjunctions or conjunctive structures to connect words, phrases, etc.


asyndeton

asyndeton (countable and uncountable, plural asyndetons or asyndeta)

From Latin asyndeton, from Ancient Greek ἀσύνδετον (asúndeton), from ἀ- (a-, “a-, un-, non-”) and the neuter substantive of σῠ́νδετος (súndetos, “bound, joined”), from συνδεῖν (sundeîn, “to join, to bind”), from σῠν- (sun-, “together”) + δεῖν (deîn, “to bind, to tie”). Equivalent to a- + syndeton.

Asyndeton, or the Loose language... as thus. I saw it, I said it, I will sweare it.

1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie, page 145:

Asyndeton the Cop'latives denies. Faith, Justice, Truth, Religion, Mercy dies.

1740, Benjamin Martin, Bibliotheca Technologica, 2nd edition, page 145:

Asyndeton the copulative denies;
And sometimes haste and rage sometimes implies.

1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 50:

(grammar, rhetoric) Omission of conjunctions, especially for rhetorical effect.


vṛddhi

vṛddhi (countable and uncountable, plural vṛddhis)

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit वृद्धि (vṛddhi, “growth, increase”).

lbor

(Sanskrit grammar) A group of long vowels.


resultative

(grammar) Indicating the state of a noun resulting from the completion of the action expressed by a verb, as with "blue" in "Mary painted the fence blue".


resultative

(grammar) A grammatical construction that indicates the state of a noun resulting from the completion of the action expressed by a verb.


delineator

Thus certain nouns are inherently potential agents, and any other noun can be turned into one by the suffixation of the delineator.

1995, Mark Durie, “Of Linguistic Evolution and the Notion 'X has a Function Y'”, in Werner Abraham, Talmy Givón, Sandra A. Thompson, editor, Discourse Grammar and Typology, page 292:

in fact Scott further includes the class 'Potential Agent' as outranking Human on this scale, defining it as 'any proper noun representing an animate being, any personal pronoun, any inalienably-possessed kin term, or any term to which the delineator has been added. (emphasis ours).

1997, Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, page 80:

If the agent and the patient roles are distributed against the animacy hierarchy, the agent is marked by the ergative suffix -ma (when attached to nounds denoting humans)/-wama (when attached to nounds denoting nonhumans) which is called 'delineator' by Scott (1978: 100-103).

2009, Ina Bornkessel, Matthias Schlesewsky, Bernard Comrie, Semantic Role Universals and Argument Linking, page 199:

An inanimate transitive subject can be made to conform to the restriction by adding a delineator to it.

2018, András Bárány, Person, Case, and Agreement, page 135:

(grammar) A suffix used in some Melanesian languages that acts like a determiner and signals that the noun to which it is attached can be used as an agent.


irresultative

(grammar) Indicating an event or action not taken to completion, as with "I was writing" but not "I wrote".


past iterative

(grammar) A tense in the Lithuanian language that indicates complete iterative action in the past, similar to the English used to but with the possibility of the action still continuing in the present.

(grammar) An alternative inflection of verbs used in the Epic (Homeric) dialect of Ancient Greek, having σκ inside aorist or imperfect verbs, and indicating habitual or repeated action.


realis mood

(grammar) A category of grammatical moods, the most common of which is the indicative mood, that indicate that something actually is, or is not, the case.


subcategorize

en-verb

subcategorize (third-person singular simple present subcategorizes, present participle subcategorizing, simple past and past participle subcategorized)

subcategorizes (present singular third-person)
subcategorizing (participle present)
subcategorized (participle past)
subcategorized (past)

As we see from the examples in (55):
 (55) (a) John will put [_(NP) the car] [_(PP) in the garage]
 (55) (b) ^✽John will put [_(NP) the car]
 (55) (c) ^✽John will put [_(PP) in the garage]
 (55) (d) ^✽John will put
 the Verb put subcategorizes (i.e. ‘takesʼ) obligatory NP and PP complements (to simplify exposition here, we ignore the fact that the subcategorization properties of put may be predictable from its thematic properties, and from general word-order principles such as the STRICT ADJACENCY CONDITION).

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 421:

(grammar) To practice subcategorization.


irrealis mood

(grammar) A category of grammatical moods that indicate that a certain situation or action is not known to happen, or have happened, as the speaker is talking.


realis

Borrowed from Late Latin reālis. Doublet of real.


realis

(grammar) Of or relating to the realis mood.

(grammar, of a verb) Inflected to indicate that something actually is, or is not, the case.


adpositional

(grammar) Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of an adposition.

adpositionaalinen

pertaining to or of the nature of an adposition


obj

(grammar, programming) Abbreviation of object.


undergoer

(linguistics, grammar) The most patient-like argument of a clause, e.g. 'the boat' in "The torpedo sank the boat" and "The boat sank".


implicans

(grammar) The antecedent in the if-clause; the well-formed formula (wff).


agentive nominalisation

en-noun

agentive nominalisation (countable and uncountable, plural agentive nominalisations)

(grammar) A construction whereby an action verb is made into an agent noun.


end mark

Because this sentence makes a statement, a period is the appropriate endmark.

2011, Geraldine Woods, English Grammar Workbook For Dummies:

(grammar) A punctuation mark occurring at the end of a clause or sentence.


verbalizer

(grammar) A morpheme, particle, etc. that converts a word into a verb.


venitive

From Latin veniō (“I come, I approach”).

The venitive suffix associates an event of ‘motion to or toward’ to the main verb.

2007, Loretta O’Connor, Motion, Transfer and Transformation: The grammar of change in Lowland Chontal, John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 131:

(grammar, of a word, particle, or inflection) Indicating motion to or toward a thing.


venitive

[…] a derivational suffix indicating ‘movement toward the speaker or deictic center’. […] a derivational venitive […]

1994, Joan L. Bybee, Revere Dale Perkins, and William Pagliuca, The evolution of grammar: tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, pages 11–12:

(grammar) A grammatical word, particle, or inflection that indicates motion to or toward a thing; or, the indication so provided.


masc.

(grammar) Abbreviation of masculine (of the masculine grammatical gender).


masc.

(grammar) Abbreviation of masculine (word or form of the masculine grammatical gender).


presentative

en-adj

presentative (comparative more presentative, superlative most presentative)

more presentative (comparative)
most presentative (superlative)

The adjective is derived from Late Latin praesentativus (“that presents for consideration”) + English -ive (suffix signifying belonging or relating to, of the nature of, serving to, or tending to, forming adjectives). Praesentativus is from Latin praesentātus (“presented, exhibited, or shown”) + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives); while praesentātus is the perfect passive participle of praesentō (“to present, exhibit, or show”), from praesēns (“at hand, present; existing; immediate; prompt; propitious; (grammar) present”) (the present active participle of praesum (“to be before something; to be in charge of; to command, lead; to preside or rule over”), from prae- (prefix meaning ‘before, in front; in charge’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- (“before; in front”)) + sum (“to be, exist, have”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”))) + -tō (frequentative suffix). The English word is analysable as present + -ative.
The noun sense (“construct that serves to present something, or draw it to the attention of the interlocutor”) is derived from adjective sense 3 (“serving to present something, or draw it to the attention of the interlocutor”).

der

(grammar) Serving to present something, or draw it to the attention of the interlocutor.


presentative

(grammar) A construct that serves to present something, or draw it to the attention of the interlocutor.


preterite-present verb

en-noun

preterite-present verb (plural preterite-present verbs)

(grammar) A type of verb specific to Germanic languages in which the forms of the present tense resemble the forms normally found in the preterite (or past) tense of strong verbs. In modern English these are principally can, may, shall, will; one can also include the other verbs that do not (or not always) take -s in the third-person singular: dare, must, need, ought. The only non-modal preterite-present verb is an archaic verb wit.


phrasal preposition

phrasal preposition (plural phrasal prepositions)

In English, most phrasal prepositions consist of an adverbial followed by a one-word preposition.

(grammar) A preposition composed of several words rather than just one.


premodifier

(grammar) A modifier placed before the head of the phrase.


postmodifier

(grammar) A modifier placed after the head of the phrase.


loose ablative

(grammar) A syntactic construction which uses the past participle, inflected in the ablative case, without an auxiliary verb yet not as an adjective, but silently supposing a verb to depend upon.


coronis

From the Latin corōnis, from the Ancient Greek κορωνίς (korōnís, “crasis coronis”, “editorial coronis”); cognate with the French coronis.

uder

(Ancient Greek grammar) A character similar to an apostrophe or the smooth breathing written atop or next to a non–word-initial vowel retained from the second word which formed a contraction resulting from crasis; see the usage note.


heteroclisis

(grammar) The presence of two or more classes of inflection in the inflectional paradigm of a noun, verb, etc

eteroclisia

grammar: two or more inflection classes in a paradigm


diptote

From Latin diptōtum, from Ancient Greek δίπτωτος (díptōtos), from δί- (dí-) + πτῶσις (ptôsis, “case”).

In Modern Standard Arabic, nouns belong to triptotes or diptotes, or can be indeclinable.

(grammar) A noun which has only two cases.


triptote

From Latin triptōtum, from Ancient Greek τρίπτωτος (tríptōtos), from τρι- (tri-, “three”) + πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”) + -τος (-tos, verbal adjective–forming suffix), influenced by the verbal noun πτῶσις (ptôsis, “inflection”).


anacoluthia

From Ancient Greek ἀνακολουθία (anakolouthía).

der

(grammar) A syntactic construction in which an element is followed by another that does not agree properly


prosiopesis

en-noun

prosiopesis (countable and uncountable, plural prosiopeses)

/ˌpɹɒsɪəʊˈpiːsɪs/

/ˌpɹɒsɪəˈpiːsɪs/

Coined in 1917 by the Danish linguist Jens Otto Harry Jespersen: pro- (“before”) (from the Ancient Greek preposition πρό (pró)) + σιώπησις (siṓpēsis, “taciturnity”) (from σιωπάω (siōpáō, “to be silent”)) + -σις (-sis), (-sis, suffix forming nouns of action).

The students of English were making good progress in getting to grips with the intricacies of informal constructions, peppering their conversations with proverbial idioms and substituting stock phrases like “Good morning!” and “Thank you.” with prosiopeses like “Morning!” and “‛Kyou.”

Traditional rhetoric was much concerned with the phenomenon of elision, because of the implications for constructing well-formed metrical lines, which would scan well. In rhetorical terminology, an elision in word-initial position was known as aphaeresis or prosiopesis, in word-medial position as syncope, and in word-final position as apocope. A similar classification was made for the opposite of elision, intrusion.

2003, David Crystal, A Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics, 5th edition, Wiley–Blackwell, →ISBN, page 159, →ISBN:

(grammar) Ellipsis of the beginning of a grammatical construction, common in informal speech and spontaneous written electronic communication, frequently occurring in stock phrases and interjections.

apocope

forms of word-elision; from word-final position

syncope

forms of word-elision; from word-medial position


precative

From Latin precativus (“of prayer”), derived from precatio (“prayer”).

The precative expresses a wish (may...!); it is formed by preposing the particle lu to the stative or the preterite.

2002, Richard Caplice, Introduction to Akkadian:

(grammar) Mode expressing a wish, a prayer.


bitransitive

A clear example of a bitransitive verb is maca 'give'. The verb ìtoa 'say' is a regular transitive verb and so cannot express a beneficiary.

2011, Michel Launey, An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, page 178:


nonfinite

Although a finite I ( = INFL = INFLECTION) constituent is (overtly or covertly) inflected for TENSE or AGREEMENT properties, it should be obvious that a nonfinite I in English lacks these properties. Hence, the infinitival particle to which occurs in a nonfinite I is by its very nature tenseless and agreementless (i.e. it carries no Tense or Agreement properties, and is thus an entirely uninflected form). The difference between a finite and a nonfinite Clause can thus be seen to lie in the nature of I: a finite Clause is one which contains a finite I (carrying Tense and Agreement properties); a nonfinite Clause is one which contains a nonfinite I which is tenseless and agreementless.

1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 306:


nonsentence

Those strings in the language are called sentences; the strings not in the language are called nonsentences.

1979, Steven Pinker, “Formal models of language learning”, in Language, Cognition, and Human Nature:

(grammar) An utterance that is not a sentence.


ad.

Apocope and other processes of abbreviation.

(grammar, also spelt adv(.)) Abbreviation of adverb.


nonvirile

The nonvirile form is used for nouns of masculine gender not referring to human beings and for neuter and feminine gender nouns. […] Numerals from five through ten distinguish between two forms: the form for virile gender nouns and the form for nonvirile gender nouns which the numerals quantify.

1975, Maria Zagórska Brooks, Polish Reference Grammar (page 317):

(grammar) Pertaining to a grammatical gender used in some Slavic languages for plurals of masculine animate, masculine inanimate, feminine, and neuter nouns, i.e. for all groups that do not include men or personal masculine nouns.


nonstative

(grammar) A construct that is not stative.


double plural

(grammar) A word doubly inflected for the plural grammatical number in relation to its singular form; e.g., medium → media → medias.

جَمْعُ الْجَمْع sg or f (jam‘u’l-jam‘, literally “plural of plural”) (Linguistics)


ablativity

Whilst in Italy the humanists were busily engaged in restoring the antique conception of grammar, in the north of France, in England and in Germany, it had sunk into complete subjection to logic. The following is a definition of the function of the Pronoun from a grammar for beginners printed in 1499. “ Pronomen…significat substantiam seu entitatem sub modo conceptus intrinseco permanentis seu habitus et quietis sub determinate apprehensionis formalitate¹.” Or we may illustrate the mediaevalist idea from the discussions upon the Absolute case. It was not enough for the scholar to know that Latin usage constructed this in the ablative : the special “ ablativity ” of the “ absolute ” concept² was really what interested the grammarian. In the same way the usages of the participle, of the genitive of possession, of the passive voice, were of far less concern than their modi significandi or underlying dialectic conceptions.

1904: William Harrison Woodward, Desiderius Erasmus: Concerning the Aim and Method of Education, page 102 (Cambridge University Press)

5.2. French was found to present an extreme situation. To express the three concepts of reversativity, ablativity, and privativity, it has only one morpheme, /de, dez/ which forms four equally strong types of verbs: défaire, démilitariser (R), dépanner (A), and … (P).

1975: Eugene Albert Nida, Exploring Semantic Structures, volume 18, page 414 (Fink)

(grammar) The nature of the ablative case.