annotation
The relation between linguistic data and some other expression which provides some kind linguistic information other than what is explicitly given by the data.
freeTranslation
The relation between an orthographic expression in one language and some orthographic expression in another such that both expressions have exactly the same meaning. The words in the translation may not correspond to the those in the source expression.
hasSense
This relation associates some LinguisticUnit with a SemanticUnit.
literalTranslation
The relation between an orthographic expression in one language and some orthographic expression in another such that the translation is done on a word by word basis without regard for the meaning of idioms [revise this definition].
names
This relation associates some written expression with any entity in the ontology. It labels or expresses that entity.
realization
This relation associates some LinguisticUnit with its corresponding OrthographicExpression.
translates
The relation between an orthographic expression in one language and some orthographic expression in another such that both expressions have the same or roughly the same meaning.
hasForm
This relation is included as a work-around, because string literals cannot be used as classes themselves, i.e., as subjects in an rdf graph. It expresses the substantial part of all written expressions.
AbsoluteFutureTense
AbsoluteFutureTense locates the event in question subsequent to the present moment; it is a prediction of some state of affairs (Comrie 1985: 43-44).
AbsolutePastTense
AbsolutePastTense locates the situation in question prior to the present moment (Comrie 1985: 41).
AbsoluteRelativeTense
AbsoluteRelativeTense locates the event in question in relation to a temporal reference point that, in turn, is referred to in relation to the moment of utterance; the reference point and the moment of utterance are not identical (Comrie 1985: 64-65).
AbsoluteTense
AbsoluteTenseValue is the set of all values associated with the grammatical encoding of an event's location in time where the moment of utterance is the deictic center (Comrie 1985: 36).
Abstract
Properties or qualities as distinguished from any particular embodiment of the properties/qualities in a physical medium. Instances of Abstract can be said to exist in the same sense as mathematical objects such as sets and relations, but they cannot exist at a particular place and time without some physical encoding or embodiment.
Adposition
An adposition is a part of speech whose members are of a closed set and occur before or after a complement composed of a noun phrase, noun, pronoun, or clause that functions as a noun phrase and forms a single structure with the complement to express its grammatical and semantic relation to another unit within a clause (Comrie 1989:91; Crystal 1997: 305; Mish et al. 1990:929; Payne 1997:86).
Animate
One of the two grammatical genders, or classes of nouns, the other being inanimate. Membership in the animate grammatical class is largely based on meanings, in that living things, including humans, animals, spirits, trees, and most plants are included in the animate class of nouns (Valentine 2001: 114).
article
An article is a member of a small class of determiners that identify a noun's definite or indefinite reference, and new or given status (Crystal 1997:26; Mish et al. 1990:105).
AspectValue
AspectValue is the class of values that may be associated with the feature instance 'aspect'. AspectValue is the class of all apsect types found in language. Aspect is the grammatical encoding of various characteristics of the event referred to in an utterance. Aspect does not form a semantically contiguous class (Comrie 1976; Bybee 1985; Sasse 2002).
Attribute
Qualities which we cannot or choose not to reify into subclasses of Object.
BoundRoot
BoundRoot is the class of bound units whose members are common to a set of derived or inflected units, if any, when all bound units are removed. They are not further analyzable into meaningful elements, being morphologically simple. Also, they designate the principle portion of meaning of the unit to which it belongs (Crystal 1985:268; Hartmann and Stork 1972:199; Pei and Gaynor 1954:187-188; Mish et al. 1990:1023; Matthews 1991:64).
BoundStem
BoundStem is the class of units whose members are decomposable into a root or roots and a derivational unit, and are only expressed by bound forms in the language (Crystal 1985:287; Mish et al. 1990:1154).
CaseValue
CaseValue is the class of values that may be associated with the feature instance 'case'. CaseValue is the class of all case types found in language. Case is a system of marking dependent nouns for the type of relationship (syntactic or semantic) they bear to some other element in the sentence, such as a verb, noun, pronoun, or adposition(Pei and Gaynor 1954: 35; Crystal 1980: 5354; Anderson 1985: 179180; Andrews 1985: 7172; Mish et al. 1990: 211; Kuno 1973: 45; Blake 2001).
Character
Character is the minimal orthographic unit.
Class
Classes differ from Sets in two important respects. First, Classes are not assumed to be extensional. That is, distinct Classes might well have exactly the same instances. Second, Classes typically have an associated `condition' that determines the instances of the Class. So, for example, the condition `human' determines the Class of Humans. Note that some Classes might satisfy their own condition (e.g., the Class of Abstract things is Abstract) and hence be instances of themselves.
Clause
A clause is a minimal unit including a predicate, all arguments of the predicate, and all modifiers of the predicate and the arguments.
Clitic
Clitic is the class of units which members exhibit syntactic characteristics of a lexical unit, but show evidence of being morphologically bound to another lexical unit, the host, by being unstressed or subject to word-level phonological rules (Crystal 1980:64; Hartmann and Stork 1972:38; Anderson 1985:158; Klavans 1982: xi-xiv, 74-76,83,93-95,100-101; Zwicky 1977:5).
ClosedFeature
ClosedFeature is the set of features with a simple value, e.g., the feature 'tense' which may have the feature 'past' (Maxwell, Simons and Hayashi 2001).
ClosedMorphoSyntacticFeature
ClosedMorphoSyntacticFeature identifies the particular grammatical category to which a simple FeatureValue is assigned. It is the first member of a FeatureSpecification. Any grammatical category, such as 'tense' or 'aspect', can be represented as a ClosedMorphoSyntacticFeature in a given language. A set of Features forms an integral part of a language's FeatureSystem. (Maxwell, Simons and Hayashi 2001).
ClosedSpecification
ClosedSpecification is a kind of FeatureSpecification whose first element must be an instance of Feature and whose second element must be an instance of FeatureValue (Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
ComplexFeature
ComplexFeature is the set of features which have complex values, that is, which have a FeatureSpecification as its value (Maxwell, Simons and Hayashi 2001).
ComplexLexicalUnit
ComplexMorphoSyntacticFeature
ComplexMorphoSyntacticFeature identifies the particular grammatical category to which a FeatureSpecification is assigned. This class is used to assign multiple values to a single feature, e.g., 'agreement' (Maxwell, Simons and Hayashi 2001).
ComplexOrthWord
A ComplexOrthWord is made up of two or more OrthographicExpressions.
ComplexSpecification
ComplexSpecification is a kind of FeatureSpecification whose first element must be an instance of Feature and whose second element must be an instance of FeatureStructure. This class gives a feature system its recursive properites (Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
Compound
Connective
Also known as a conjunction, a Connective is a class of parts of speech whose members syntactically link words or larger constituents, and expresses a semantic relationship between them. A conjunction is positionally fixed relative to one or more of the elements related by it, thus distinguishing it from constituents such as English conjunctive adverbs (Crystal 1997:81; Mish et al. 1990:277-278).
ContentBearingObject
Any SelfConnectedObject that expresses information.
CoordinatingConnective
A coordinating connective is a connective that links constituents without syntactically subordinating one to the other (Crystal 1997:93; Mish et al. 1990:288).
DerivationalUnit
DerivationalUnit is the class of sublexical units whose members function to derive a new lexical unit from an existing one, by systematically changing the meaning and possibly altering the partOfSpeech feature of the Root or Stem it attaches to (Hartmann and Stork 1972:62; Crystal 1985:89; Mish et al. 1990:342; Bybee 1985:81-82, 99).
Determiner
A Determiner is a partOfSpeech whose members belong to a class of noun modifiers and express the reference, including quantity, of a noun (Crystal 1997:112; Mish et al. 1990:346).
DirectionalCase
Represents a dynamic spatial relation (involving movement) between two Objects
DynamicityAspect
DynamicityAspect refers to the degree to which an event is expressed as an on going process, i.e., as progressive or not (Bybee, Perkins and Pagliuca 1994: 127-139).
Enclitic
An enclitic is a clitic that is phonologically joined at the end of a preceding lexical unit to form a single phonological unit (Crystal 1980:64; Pei and Gaynor 1954:65; Mish et al. 1990:409).
Entity
The universal class of individuals. This is the root node of the ontology.
EvaluativeValue
EvaluativeValue is the class of values that may be associated with the feature instance 'evaluative'. EvaluativeValue is the class of all evaluative types found in language.
Feature
Feature, also called a quality or a feature name, is the class of attributes that may be associated with entities. Features have as their values instances of FeatureValue. That is, specific features have specific values associated with them, e.g., the feature 'tense' has 'past', 'present', ..., 'future' as values. In the broader domain, the class of Feature can be thought of as the set of qualities associated with some object in general, e.g., color, size, shape, etc. (Shieber 1986: 12; Gärdenfors 2000; Masolo et al. 2002).
FeatureConstraint
FeatureConstraint is the class of all lists, duples, which contain as the first member a partOfSpeechValue and, as its second, a set of Features. This essentially gives part of speech a priviledged status in a FeatureSystem. That is, the part of speech determines which Features may be associated with a particular linguistic unit.
FeatureSpecification
A FeatureSpecification is an ordered list, a duple, whose first element must be an instance of Feature and whose second element is either an instance of FeatureValue or FeatureStructure (Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
FeatureStructure
A FeatureStructure is a set of zero or more FeatureSpecifications. A FeatureStructure is a kind of information structure, a container or data structure, expressly to group qualities or features of some object. In a grammatical feature system, a FeatureStructure holds the grammatical information associated with some linguistic unit. In a typed feature system, a FeatureStructure has an associated type, usually a PartOfSpeechValue. (Shieber 1986; Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
FeatureSystem
FeatureSystem is the class of grammatical systems which uses features and values to represent grammatical information. It can be assumed that only one feature system exists per language data project. A FeatureSystem consists of a set of FeatureValueAssociations, which is a set of features and their allowable values, and a set of FeatureConstraints (Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
FeatureValue
FeatureValue is the class of values that may be associated with instances of Feature. That is, specific features have specific feature values associated with them, e.g., the feature 'tense' has 'past', 'present', ..., 'future' as values. In the broader domain, the class of FeatureValue can be thought of as the set of qualia associated with some feature in general, a point in cognitive space. E.g., red is a quale in color space (Shieber 1986: 12; Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001; Gärdenfors 2000; Masolo et al. 2002).
FeatureValueAssociation
FeatureValueAssociation is the class of all lists, duples, which contain as the first member a Feature and as the second a set of FeatureValues.
FreeRoot
FreeRoot is the class of free units whose members are common to a set of derived or inflected units, if any, when all bound units are removed. They are not further analyzable into meaningful elements, being morphologically simple. Also, they designate the principle portion of meaning of the unit to which it belongs (Crystal 1985:268; Hartmann and Stork 1972:199; Pei and Gaynor 1954:187-188; Mish et al. 1990:1023; Matthews 1991:64).
FreeStem
FreeStem is the class of units whose members are decomposable into a root or roots and a derivational unit. They are expressed by the free forms of the language (Crystal 1985:287; Mish et al. 1990:1154).
GenderValue
GenderValue is the class of values that may be associated with the feature instance 'gender'. GenderValue is the class of all gender types found in language.
GrammaticalCase
Subsumes the Cases that are assigned by the verb. These Cases often correspond to the SemanticRoles in the Sentence.
InflectionalUnit
InflectionalUnit is the class of sublexical unit whose members designate such grammatical categories as tense, aspect, mood etc. The various forms of an InflectionalUnit plus the stem forms a grammatical paradigm and express a grammatical contrast that is obligatory for its stem's part of speech in some given grammatical context. An InflectionalUnit does not alter the partOfSpeech feature of the Root or Stem it attaches to. It is typically located farther from its Root than a derivational unit and produces a predictable, nonidiosyncratic change of meaning (Crystal 1980:184; Hartmann and Stork 1972:112; Mish et al. 1990:620; Bybee 1985:2, 99).
InternalAttribute
Any Attribute of an Entity that is an internal property of the Entity, e.g. its shape, its color, its fragility, etc.
LexicalUnit
LexicalUnit is the class of morphosyntactic units which are expressed as individual units, or words, in a language. They are constituents at the Phrase level and above. They are sometimes identifiable according to such criteria as: (1) they are the minimal possible units in a reply; (2) their phonological expressions have features such as a regular stress pattern, and phonological changes conditioned by or blocked at Word boundaries; (3) they are the largest units resistant to insertion of new constituents within their boundaries; or (4) they are the smallest constituents that can be moved within a Sentence without making the Sentence ungrammatical (Hartmann and Stork 1972: 256; Crystal 1980: 168, 383, 384; Cruse 1986: 3536; Mish et al. 1990: 1358; Pike and Pike 1982: 462).
LinguisticUnit
The class of entities is meant to be a container for mental linguistic units of all kinds, including discourse, morphosyntactic, phonological and semantic.
List
Every List is a particular ordered n-tuple of items. Generally speaking, Lists are created by means of the ListFn Function, which takes any number of items as arguments and returns a List with the items in the same order. Anything, including other Lists, may be an item in a List. Note too that Lists are extensional - two lists that have the same items in the same order are identical. Note too that a List may contain no items. In that case, the List is the NullList.
MainClause
A main clause is an independent clause that can stand on its own as a sentence. If a sentence contains any embedded clauses, the main clause is understood as the matrix plus the embedded clauses. In the sentence 'John thinks that Mary is sick', 'John thinks that Mary is sick' is the main clause (Crystal 2001: 231).
ModalityValue
ModalityValue is the class of values that may be associated with the feature instance 'modality'. ModalityValue is the class of all modality types found in language. Modality is the encoding of the speaker's attitudes and opinions about the expressed proposition. Modality is concerned with the encoding of the truth status of the expressed proposition as well as the propositional attitudes such as fears, wants and desires. Evidentiality is also closely related and is often part of the formal mood system of a language. A formal distinction is often made between modal and mood systems in the grammar. However, here they are conflated as Modality (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 176; Palmer 2001: 1).
MorphoSyntacticFeatureValue
MorphoSyntacticFeatureValue is the class of values that may be associated with instances of MorphoSyntacticFeature. In a FeatureSystem, these dictate the formal properties of the grammar and may or may not be true semantically. A set of FeatureValues forms an integral part of a language's FeatureSystem (Pollard and Sag 1994; Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
MorphoSyntacticUnit
The class of entities which may be construed as the elements of a language. Such units are meant to serve as ontological containers for mental objects or representations. In some theories, these may correspond to the notion of a morphemes and constructions. In a feature system, these elements carry MorphoSyntacticFeatures.
Nominal
A nominal is a partOfSpeech whose members differ grammatically from a substantive but which functions as one (Crystal 1997:260; Mish et al. 1990:801).
NominalParticle
A nominal particle is a member of a closed class of particles that co-occur with nouns.
NonGrammaticalCase
NonspatialCase
This subsumes cases which are non-grammatical and non-spatial.
noun
A noun is a broad classification of parts of speech which include substantives and nominals (Crystal 1997:371; Mish et al. 1990:1176).
NumberValue
NumberValue is the class of values that may be associated with the feature instance 'number'. NumberValue is the class of all grammatical number types found in language. Number is a grammatical category often found on nouns, pronouns, and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions--such as 'one' or 'more than one'. The count distinctions typically, but not always, correspond to the actual count of the referents of the marked noun or Pronoun (Crystal 1980: 245; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 155; Mish et al. 1990: 811).
Numeral
A numeral is a partOfSpeech whose members function most typically as adjectives or pronouns and express a number, or relation to the number, such as one of the following: quantity, sequence, frequency, fraction (Hartmann and Stork 1972:155; Pei and Gaynor 1954:149).
Object
Corresponds roughly to the class of ordinary objects. Examples include normal physical objects, geographical regions, and locations of Processes, the complement of Objects in the Physical class. In a 4D ontology, an Object is something whose spatiotemporal extent is thought of as dividing into spatial parts roughly parallel to the time-axis.
OrthAffix
An OrthAffix is a OrthPart that is joined before, after, around, or within an OrthRoot or OrthStem (Crystal 1980: 17; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 6; Mish et al. 1990: 62).
OrthCircumfix
An OrthCircumfix is an OrthAffix that is attached around a OrthRoot or OrthStem
OrthCompound
An OrthCompound is an expression made up of two or more OrthRoots.
OrthInfix
An OrthInfix is an OrthAffix that is inserted within a OrthRoot (Hartmann and Stork 1972: 111).
OrthPart
OrthPart is the subclass of written expressions whose members are not orthographically independent, that is, they cannot stand alone as words but compose to form words. Note that an OrthPart is not the same as a single character. Although, some OrthParts are characters.
OrthPhrase
OrthPrefix
An OrthPrefix is an OrthAffix that is joined before a OrthRoot or OrthStem (Crystal 1980: 281; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 182; Mish et al. 1990: 927).
OrthRoot
Some expression is an OrthRoot if it realizes a LinguisticUnit which is either a Bound or FreeRoot.
OrthStem
An OrthStem realizes either a Boundor FreeStem.
OrthSuffix
A OrthSuffix is an OrthAffix that is attached to the end of a OrthRoot or OrthStem (Crystal 1980: 340; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 226; Mish et al. 1990: 1179).
OrthWord
An OrthWord is the fundamental unit of an orthography, usually set off by white space.
OrthographicExpression
An OrthographicExpression is an orthographic unit composed of the standard characters of an orthographic system. An OrthographicExpression is governed by the orthographic combinatorial rules of a particular language. OrthographicExpressions are not transcriptions of any external entity, but independent linguistic expressions which refer directly to the LinguisticUnits of the language. They are expressions of some human language, possibly no longer spoken.
OrthographicTranscription
An OrthographicTranscription is composed in the native orthogrphy, as when a an English speaking transcriber transcribes an English conversation.
PartOfSpeechValue
PartOfSpeechValue is the value associated with partOfSpeech feature. PartOfSpeechValue is the class of all lexical types found in language. While a particular theory may not utilize the notion part of speech, it is useful as part of a FeatureSystem. The set of part of speech values for a particular language can be described based on how words behave in the syntax (Payne 1997: 33; Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
Particle
A particle is a partOfSpeech whose members do not belong to one of the main classes of words, is invariable, and typically has grammatical or pragmatic meaning.
PersonValue
PersonValue is the class of values that may be associated with the feature instance 'person'. PersonValue is the class of all grammatical person types found in language. Person indicates the number and nature of the participants in a situation. Usually a three-way contrast is found: first, second, and third person. Other formal distinctions in languages include: inclusive/exlusive, honorific/intimate, and male/female (Crystal 1997: 285).
PersonalPronoun
A personal pronoun is a pronoun that expresses a distinction of person deixis (Mish et al. 1990:878).
PhaseAspect
PhaseAspect encodes some portion of the event, the initial, final or core part (Bickel 1997: 116; Sasse 2002).
PhonemicTranscription
A PhonemicTranscription is composed of characters that correspond to phonemes of a language.
PhoneticTranscription
A PhoneticTranscription is composed of characters that correspond to phones of a language.
PhraseUnit
Physical
An entity that has a location in space-time. Note that locations are themselves understood to have a location in space-time.
PolarityValue
PolarityValue is the class of values that may be associated with the feature instance 'polarity'. PolarityValue is the class of all polarity types found in language.
PositionalCase
Represents a static spatial relation between two Objects.
ProForm
A ProForm is a partOfSpeech whose members usually substitute for other constituents, including phrases, clauses, or sentences, and whose meaning is recoverable from the linguistic or extralinguistic context (Schachter 1985:24-25; Crystal 1997:310).
Process
Intuitively, the class of things that happen and have temporal parts or stages. Examples include extended events like a football match or a race, actions like Searching and Reading, and biological processes. The formal definition is: anything that lasts for a time but is not an Object. Note that a Process may have participants 'inside' it which are Objects, such as the players in a football match. In a 4D ontology, a Process is something whose spatiotemporal extent is thought of as dividing into temporal stages roughly perpendicular to the time-axis.
Proclitic
A proclitic is a clitic that precedes the lexical unit to which it is phonologically joined (Crystal 1980:64; Hartmann and Stork 1972:185; Pei and Gaynor 1954:176; Mish et al. 1990:938).
Pronoun
A Pronoun is a proForm which functions like a noun and substitutes for a noun or noun phrase (Crystal 1997:312; Mish et al. 1990:942).
Quantifier
A quantifier is a determiner that expresses a referent's definite or indefinite number or amount. A quantifier functions as a modifier of a noun, or a pronoun (Crystal 1997:317; Mish et al. 1990:963).
QuantitativeAspect
QuantitativeAspect refers to the cardinality of the event which is represented by the predicate (de Groot 1995; Dahl 1999: 31; Sasse 2002: 227).
Relation
The Class of relations. There are three kinds of Relation: Predicate, Function, and List. Predicates and Functions both denote sets of ordered n-tuples. The difference between these two Classes is that Predicates cover formula-forming operators, while Functions cover term-forming operators. A List, on the other hand, is a particular ordered n-tuple.
RelativeTense
RelativeTense locates the situation in question in relation to a contextually determined temporal reference point, regardless of the latter's temporal relation to the moment of utterance (Comrie 1985: 56).
RelevanceAspect
RelevanceAspect encodes the degree to which some event is relevant in relation to some reference time (Givón 2001: 296).
SelfConnectedObject
A SelfConnectedObject is any Object that does not consist of two or more disconnected parts.
Set
SetOrClass that satisfies extensionality as well as other constraints specified by some choice of set theory. Sets differ from Classes in two important respects. First, Sets are extensional - two Sets with the same elements are identical. Second, a Set can be an arbitrary stock of objects. That is, there is no requirement that Sets have an associated condition that determines their membership.
SetOrClass
The SetOrClass of Sets and Classes, i.e. any instance of Abstract that has elements or instances.
SimpleOrthPart
SimpleOrthPart is the subclass of OrthPart whose members cannt be decomposed further into other instances of SimpleOrthPart.
SimpleOrthWord
A SimpleOrthWord has no internal parts which are also WrittenExpressions.
SizeValue
SizeValue is the class of values that may be associated with the feature instance 'size'. SizeValue is the class of all size types found in language.
SpatialCase
This subsumes cases that involve literal spatial arrangement, static or dynamic.
SublexicalUnit
SublexicalUnit is the class of morphosyntactic unit which may not be expressed alone and, hence, are bound to other morphosyntactic units.
SubordinateClause
A subordinate clause is a dependent clause that cannot stand on its own as a sentence. A matrix clause combined with a subordinate clause form a clause. In the sentence 'John thinks that Mary is sick', 'Mary is sick' is the subordinate clause.
SubordinatingConnective
A subordinating connective is a connective that links constructions by making one of them a constituent of another. The subordinating conjunction typically marks the incorporated constituent (Crystal 1997:370; Mish et al. 1990:1175).
SymbolicString
SymbolicString is a sequence of one or more Characters.
TenseValue
TenseValue is the class of values that may be associated with the feature instance 'tense'. TenseValue is the class of all tense types found in language.
Term
This class includes includes any expression that is not conventially a part of a written language, but is used to name various features, values, and other linguistic constructs. Terms are used in interlinear text, often on the second line, to annotate or 'gloss' transcriptions.
Transcription
A Transcription is something that represents some other entity observed by a transcriber. Therefore, it is an interpretation of an original source. For example, this is usually the primary data in interlinear glossed text. The key difference between a transcription and an orthographic expression is that a transcription involves two entities, a transcriber and a source (speaking event, audio file, video file, some other orthographic expression).
Transliteration
A Transliteration is a representation of some native orthography by some other system.
UnderlyingFormTranscription
An UnderlyingFormTranscription is composed of SymbolicStrings which correspond to the underlying form of the LinguisticUnits of the language.
Verb
A Verb is a part of speech whose members typically signal events and actions; constitute, singly or in a phrase, a minimal predicate in a clause; govern the number and types of other constituents which may occur in the clause; and, in inflectional languages, may be inflected for tense, aspect, voice, modality, or agreement with other constituents in person, number, or grammatical gender (Crystal 1997:409; Mish et al. 1990:1309; Givón 1984:52; Payne 1997:47).
ViewPointAspect
ViewPointAspect is a deictic category that encodes the particilar way an event is represented, either as from within the event itself or from outside the event (Comrie 1976: 16-40; Givón 2001: 289).
WrittenExpression
A very general category subsuming any entity which is the product writing process. WrittenExpressions are necessarily symbolic.
AbessiveCase
AbessiveCase expresses the lack or absence of the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning of the English preposition 'without' (Pei and Gaynor 1954: 3,35; Gove, et al. 1966: 3).
AblativeCase
AblativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location from which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'from'.
AbsolutePresentTense
AbsolutePresentTense locates the situation in question at the present moment, though the situation rarely coincides exactly with the present moment (Comrie 1985: 37).
AbsolutiveCase
AbsolutiveCase in ergative-absolutive languages mark referents that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominative-accusative languages (Anderson 1985: 181; Crystal 1985: 1; Andrews and Avery 1985: 138).
AccusativeCase
AccusativeCase in nominative-accusative languages marks certain syntactic functions, usually direct objects (Hartmann and Stork 1972: 3,156; Crystal 1980: 11,246; Andrews and Avery 1985: 75; Anderson; 1985: 181; Mish et al. 1990: 50).
AdessiveCase
AdessiveCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location near/at which another referent exists. It has the meaning of 'at' or 'near' (Crystal 1997: 8).
Adjectivalization
An adjectivalization is a partOfSpeech whose members differ grammatically from adjectives but which functions as them (Crystal 1997:260; Mish et al. 1990:801).
AdversativeCase
AdversativeCase expresses an antithetical circumstance. Adversative meaning can be expressed in several grammatical ways, such as through a conjunction (but), adverbial (however, nevertheless, yet, in spite of that, on the other hand), or preposition (despite, except, apart from, notwithstanding) (Crystal 1997: 11).
AllativeCase
AllativeCase expresses motion to or toward the referent of the noun it marks (Pei and Gaynor 1954: 6,9,216; Lyons 1968: 299; Crystal 1985: 1213; Gove, et al. 1966: 55,2359).
Assumptive
Assumptive encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression through (possibly) unsound inference procedure. That is, it is at least reasonalbe (Palmer 2001: 6-8).
AuditoryEvidential
AuditoryEvidential encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression through direct auditory experience; they heard it. This does not include spoken reported accounts, but only direct sensory evdience, such as the situation of 'hearing a tree fall' (Palmer 2001: 38).
AversiveCase
Marks the noun whose referent is the object of avoidance; also called the evitative (Blake 1998: 154).
BenefactiveCase
BenefactiveCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks receives the benefit of the situation expressed by the clause (Crystal 1980: 43; Gove, et al. 1966: 203).
Categorical
Categorical encodes that fact that the speaker knows the expressed proposition to be true (Palmer 2001: 37, 68-69).
CausalCase
Used to mark the noun whose referent is the cause of some event, found in Archi (Kibrik 1998: 468).
CloseFutureTense
CloseFutureTense, also called 'immediate future', locates the situation in question shortly after the moment of utterance (Dahl 1985:121; Comrie 1985:94; Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 244-245).
ComitativeCase
ComitativeCase expresses accompaniment. It carries the meaning 'with' or 'accompanied by' (Anderson, Stephen 1985: 186; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 42;Dixon, R. 1972: 12; Gove, et al. 1966: 455).
Commisive
Commisive encodes that the speaker promises or threatens to perform some action (Palmer 2001: 10, 72).
ComparativeCase
ComparitiveCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks has some property to a lesser extent than that of the referent of some other noun; found in Archi (Kibrik 1998: 469) and in some Dravidian languages (Blake 1998: 155).
CompletiveAspect
CompletiveAspect, also called the egressive, encodes the end portion of some event. In order to be a completive, the case in question should be clearly differentiated in the grammar from an ordinary perfective which also implies that the event is completed (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 54; Payne 1997: 240; Dahl 1999: 33).
ContablativeCase
ContablativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location from near which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'from near'.
ContallativeCase
ContallativeCase expresses that something is moving toward the vicinity of the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning 'towards the vicinity of'.
ConterminativeCase
ConterminativeCase expresses the notion of something moving into the vicinity of the referent of the noun it marks, but not through that region. It has the meaning 'moving into the vicinity of'.
ContlativeCase
ContlativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location in the vicinity of which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'in the vicinity of'.
DativeCase
DativeCase marks 1) Indirect objects (for languages in which they are held to exist) or 2) nouns having the role of recipient (as of things given), beneficiary of an action, or possessor of an item (Crystal 1980: 102; Gove, et al. 1966: 577).
Deductive
Deductive encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression through sound inference procedure. That is, it is the only possible conclusion (Palmer 2001: 6-8).
DelativeCase
DelativeCase expresses motion downward from the referent of the noun it marks (Pei and Gaynor 1954: 53; Gove, et al. 1966: 595).
DirectEvidential
DirectEvidential, also called sensory, encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression by having direct sensory experience of some situation; this does not include hearing about it from someone else (Palmer 2001: 35-36).
Dubitative
Dubitative encodes a speakers doubt or uncertainty about a proposition (Palmer 2001).
ElativeCase
ElativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location out of which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'out of' (Lyons 1968: 299; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 64; Crystal 1985: 106; Gove, et al. 1966: 730).
EquativeCase
EquativeCase expresses 'likeness of' or 'identity to' the referent of the noun it marks. It mean: 'as', 'like', and 'in the capacity of'; in some instances, it may have the meaning 'occurs in the manner typical of the referent' (Kibrik 1998: 469).
ErgativeCase
ErgativeCase in ergative-absolutive languages generally identifies the subject of transitive verbs in the translation equivalents of nominative-accusative Languages such as English (Crystal 1980: 134; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 78; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 67; Andrews and Avery 1985: 138).
EssiveCase
EssiveCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location at which another referent exists (Lyons 1968: 299,301; Gove, et al. 1966: 778; Crystal 1985: 112; Blake 1994: 154-5).
FolkloreEvidential
FolkloreEvidential encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression through legend, folklore or some other established tradition (Palmer 2001: 40).
FutureInFutureTense
FutureInFutureTense locates the situation in question in the future, relative to a temporal reference point that itself is located in the future relative to the moment of utterance.
FutureInPastTense
FutureInPastTense locates the situation in question in the future, relative to a contextually determined temporal reference point that itself must be located in the past relative to the moment of utterance.
FuturePerfectTense
FuturePerfectTense locates the situation in question before a contextually determined temporal reference point that must be located in the future relative to the moment of utterance (Comrie 1985:69-71).
GeneralAbilitive
GeneralAbilitive is a very frequently occurring modality which encodes that the agent is able to perform some action. The conditions are external to the agent (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 177; Palmer 2001: 76)
GenitiveCase
GenitiveCase is used to mark the noun whose referent is the possessor of the referent of another noun (Crystal 1980: 161; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 9495,180; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 82,172; Anderson 1985: 185; Mish et al. 1990: 511; Fleming 1988: 10).
HabitualAspect
HabitualAspect, also called the durative, encodes the situation where an event takes place over an extended period of time. This is, it refers to not just one event but many events of the same type. The occurrence of the events may be protracted indefinitely in time. If the event is a state, then the state is said to hold for some time. If the event is an achievement or an accomplishment, then it may occur again and again. The time interval which is relevant to the habitual is relatively longer than in the case of the iterative (Comrie 1976: 28; Bybee 1985: 142; Payne 1997: 241; Dahl 1999: 32).
HesternalPastTense
HesternalPastTense locates the situation in question somewhere in the span beginning with the period defined culturally as 'yesterday' and extends back through some period that is considered nonremote (Comrie 1985:87-88; Dahl 1985:126).
HodiernalFutureTense
HodiernalFutureTense locates the situation in question after the moment of utterance within the span culturally defined as 'today' (Comrie 1985: 86; Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 247).
HodiernalPastTense
HodiernalPastTense locates the situation in question before the moment of utterance within the span culturally defined as 'today' (Comrie 1985:87; Dahl 1985:125-126)
IllativeCase
IllativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location into which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'into' (Lyons 1968: 299; Gove, et al. 1966: 1126; Crystal 1985: 152).
ImmediatePastTense
ImmediatePastTense locates the situation in question at a time considered very recent in relation to the moment of utterance (Comrie 1985: 87).
ImperfectiveAspect
ImperfectiveAspect encodes the internal temporal structure of an event from within. It indicates that the event is a process without emphasizing its end points, although there may be the entailment that the event has a starting/end point (Comrie 1976: 24; Dahl 1999: 33).
InablativeCase
InablativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location from within which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'from within'.
InallativeCase
InallativeCase expresses that something is moving toward the region that is inside the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning 'towards in(side)'.
InceptiveAspect
InceptiveAspect, also called the ingressive, encodes the beginning portion of some event (Bybee 1985: 147, 149; Payne 1997: 240).
Indicative
IndirectEvidential
IndirectEvidential, also called reported, encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression from a source other than by experiencing the situation directly (Palmer 2001: 40).
InessiveCase
InessiveCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location within which another referent exists. It has the meaning of 'within' or 'inside' (Lyons 1968: 299; Gove, et al. 1966: 1156; Crystal 1985: 156). X in Y.
InferenceEvidential
InferenceEvidential encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression through some kind of internal inference procedure, e.g., deduction, abduction, induction (Palmer 2001: 6-8).
InstrumentalCase
InstrumentalCase indicates that the referent of the noun it marks is the means of the accomplishment of the action expressed by the clause (Crystal 1980: 187; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 114; Mish et al. 1990: 627).
InterablativeCase
InterablativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location from between which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'from inbetween'.
InterallativeCase
InterallativeCase expresses that something is moving toward the region that is in the middle of the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning 'towards the middle of'.
InteressiveCase
InteressiveCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location between which another referent exists. It has the meaning of 'between'.
InterlativeCase
InterlativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location between which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'to the middle of'.
InterminativeCase
InterterminativeCase
InterterminativeCase expresses the notion of something moving into the middle of the referent of the noun it marks, but not through it. It has the meaning 'into the middle of'.
IntertranslativeCase
IntertranslativeCase expresses the notion of something moving along a trajectory between the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning 'along the in between.
IntranslativeCase
IntranslativeCase expresses the notion of something moving through the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning 'along through'.
Irrealis
IterativeAspect
IterativeAspect, also called repetitives, encodes a number of events of the same type that are repeated on a particular occasion. The time interval which is relevant to the iterative is relatively shorter than in the case of the habitual (Bybee 1985: 150; Bybee, Perkins and Pagliuca 1994: 127).
LativeCase
LativeCase expresses 'motion up to the location of,' or 'as far as' the referent of the noun it marks (Pei and Gaynor 1954: 121; Gove, et al. 1966: 1277).
MalefactiveCase
Opposite of BenefactiveCase; used when the marked noun is negatively affected in the clause.
MentalAbilitive
MentalAbilitive encodes an internal condition of ability, whereby the agent has the mental capacity to perform some action (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 192; Palmer 2001: 77)
NominativeCase
NominativeCase identifies clause subjects in nominative-accusative languages. It is usually the unmarked case. Nouns used in isolation often have this case (Crystal 1980: 242; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 147; Mish et al. 1990: 801; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 224).
NonFutureTense
NonFutureTense locates the situation in question at or before the moment of utterance, and contrasts with a FutureTense (Comrie 1985: 49).
NonPastTense
NonPastTense locates the situation in question at or after the moment of utterance, and contrasts with a past tense (Comrie 1985:48-49).
NonProgressiveAspect
NonProgressiveAspect is essentially the opposite of ProgressiveAspect; it encodes a single event as a state or non-process. It is a controversial category, though there may be languages in which it contrasts witht he ProgressiveAspect (Comrie 1976: 32-35; Bybee, Perkins and Pagliuca 1994: 137-139).
NonRecentPastTense
NonRecentPastTense locates the situation in question before the range of a contrasting recent past tense. This category must be defined relative to a RecentPastTense.
NonRemotePastTense
NonRemotePastTense locates the situation in question not more than a few days ago, in contrast to a RemotePastTense. This category must be defined relative to a RemotePastTense.
NonVisualEvidential
NonVisualEvidential encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression directly in a way other than through visual experience; they heard it, smelled it, tasted it, ect. (Palmer 2001: 36, 57).
Obligative
Obligative is a very common modal category and encodes that the subject is required to perform the action expressed by the predicate (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 177; Palmer 2001: 71).
Optative
Optative encodes that the speaker wishes or hopes that the expressed proposition be the case (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 179; Palmer 2001: 204).
PartitiveCase
PartitiveCase expresses the partial nature of the referent of the noun it marks, as opposed to expressing the whole unit or class of which the referent is a part. This case may be found in items such as the following: existential clauses, nouns that are accompanied by numerals or units of measure, or predications of material from which something is made. It often has a meaning similar to the English word 'some' (Pei and Gaynor 1954: 161; Richards, Platt, and Weber 1985: 208; Quirk, et al. 1985: 249; Gove, et al. 1966: 1648; Sebeok 1946: 1214).
PerfectAspect
PerfectAspect indicates that the event is relevant in relation to some reference time. Thus, it encodes both a temporal and a discourse relation between two time points. It can contrast with the perfective (Comrie 1976: 52-65; Givón 2001: 296).
PerfectiveAspect
PerfectiveAspect, sometimes called the aorists, encodes the totality of some event, that is, the event viewed from outside, in its entirety as a whole. Because perfectives encode the entire event, the event is necessarily complete. A perfective may be used to encode a several events when they are to be viewed as a whole (Comrie 1976: 12, 18; Payne 1997: 239; Dahl 1999: 33)
PerlativeCase
PerlativeCase expresses that something moved 'through','across', or 'along' the referent of the noun that is marked (Blake 1998: 38, 203).
Permissive
Permissive encodes that the subject has permission to perform the action expressed by the predicate (Palmer 2001: 10, 71).
PermutativeCase
PermutativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks takes part in some event instead of the referent of some other noun; it means roughly ' instead of'; found in Archi (Kibrik 1998: 469).
PhysicalAbilitive
PhysicalAbilitive encodes an internal condition of ability, whereby the agent has the physical capacity to perform some action (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 192; Palmer 2001: 77).
PossessedCase
PossessedCase is used to mark the noun whose referent is possessed by the referent of another noun.
PossessorCase
PossessorCase is used to mark the noun whose referent is the possessor of the referent of another noun (Blake 1998: 149).
PostHodiernalFutureTense
PostHodiernalFutureTense locates the situation in question after the span that is culturally defined as 'today' (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 247).
PreHesternalPastTense
PreHesternalPastTense locates the situation in question before that of an opposing hesternal past tense. This category must be defined relative to a HesternalPastTense (Bybee, Perkins, Pagliuca 1994: 98).
PreHodiernalPastTense
PreHodiernalPastTense locates the situation in question before that of a contrasting HodiernalPastTense. This category must be defined relative to a HodiernalPastTense (Bybee, Perkins, Pagliuca 1994: 98).
ProgressiveAspect
ProgressiveAspect, also called the continuative or the durative, encodes a single event as an ongoing process. Thus, states cannot generally be encoded with the progressive (Comrie 1976: 32-35; Bybee, Perkins and Pagliuca 1994: 127-139; Payne 1997: 240).
ProprietiveCase
This case expresses the presence of the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning of the English verb 'have' (Blake 1994: 156).
Realis
RecentPastTense
RecentPastTense locates the situation in question prior to the present moment, but by culturally and situationally defined criteria, usually within the span ranging from yesterday to a week or a few months previous (Comrie 1985:87; Dahl 1985:121-122).
RelativeFutureTense
RelativeFutureTense locates the situation in question after a contextually determined temporal reference point, regardless of the latter's relation to the moment of utterance.
RelativeNonFutureTense
RelativeNonFutureTense locates the situation in question simultaneous to, or before, a contextually determined temporal reference point, regardless of the latter's relation to the moment of utterance.
RelativeNonPastTense
RelativeNonPastTense locates the situation in question simultaneous to, or after, a contextually determined temporal reference point, regardless of the latter's relation to the moment of utterance.
RelativePastTense
RelativePastTense locates the situation in question before that of a contextually determined temporal reference point (Comrie 1985: 104).
RelativePresentTense
RelativePresentTense locates the situation in question simultaneously with some contextually determined temporal reference point.
RemoteFutureTense
RemoteFutureTense locates the situation in question at a time that is considered relatively distant. It is characteristically after the span of time culturally defined as 'tomorrow' (Dahl 1985:121; Comrie 1985:94).
RemotePastTense
RemotePastTense locates the situation in question prior to the present moment, usually more than a few days ago (Dahl 1985:121; Comrie 1985:88).
SecondHandEvidential
SecondHandEvidential, also called the quotative, encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression from communicating with someone else (Palmer 2001: 40).
SimplePastTense
SimplePastTense is a very generic AbsolutePastTense which locates the situation in question prior to the present moment, with no specification on the distance in time (Comrie 1985).
Speculative
Speculative encodes the fact that the speaker considers, or 'entertains', the content of the expression. That is, it is in the realm of possibility, though the speaker does not necessarilty believe it (Palmer 2001: 6-8, 25).
StillTense
StillTense is similar to AbsolutePresentTense but carries the presupposition that an event or state held before the moment of utterance. In positive declarative clauses, still tense asserts that the event or state holds at the moment of utterance (Comrie 1985: 54).
SubablativeCase
SubablativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location from under which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'from under'.
SuballativeCase
SuballativeCase expresses that something is moving toward the region that is under the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning 'towards the region that is under'.
SubessiveCase
SubessiveCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location under which another referent exists. It has the meaning of 'under' or 'beneath'.
Subjunctive
SublativeCase
SublativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location under which another referent is moving toward. It has the meaning 'towards the underneath of'.
SubterminativeCase
SubterminativeCase expresses the notion of something moving into the region under the referent of the noun it marks, but not through that region. It has the meaning 'into the region under'.
SubtranslativeCase
SubtranslativeCase expresses the notion of something moving along a trajectory underneath the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning 'along the region underneath'.
SuperablativeCase
SuperlativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location from over which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'from over'.
SuperallativeCase
SuperallativeCase expresses that something is moving toward the region that is above the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning 'towards the region that is over'.
SuperessiveCase
SuperessiveCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location on which another referent exists. It has the meaning of 'on' or 'upon'. (Pei and Gaynor 1954: 207, Gove, et al. 1966: 2293).
SuperlativeCase
SuperlativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location onto which another referent is moving. It has the meaning of 'onto'.
SuperterminativeCase
SuperterminativeCase expresses the notion of something moving into the region over the referent of the noun it marks, but not through that region. It has the meaning 'into the region over'.
SupertranslativeCase
SupertranslativeCase expresses the notion of something moving along a trajectory above the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning 'along the region over'.
TerminativeCase
TerminativeCase expresses the notion of something into but not further than (ie, not through) the referent of the noun it marks. It has the meaning 'into but not through'.
ThirdHandEvidential
ThirdHandEvidential, also called the hearsay, encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression from a source generally considered less reliable than with a SecondHandEvidential (Palmer 2001: 40).
Timitive
Timitive encodes that the speaker fears somethings expressed in the proposition (Palmer 2001: 13, 22).
TranslativeCase
TranslativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun, or the quality of the adjective, that it marks is the result of a process of change (Lyons 1968: 299301, Gove, et al. 1966: 813,2429, Sebeok 1946: 17, Hakulinen 1961: 70). X along, across Y.
VisualEvidential
VisualEvidential encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression through direct visual experience; they saw it (Palmer 2001: 57).
VocativeCase
VocativeCase marks a noun whose referent is being addressed (Crystal 1980: 377; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 251; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 228).
Volitive
Volitive encodes that the speaker is willing to perform some action (Palmer 2001: 76).
WeakObligative
WeakObligative encodes that the subject 'should' perform the action expressed by the predicate (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 186-187).
adjective
An adjective is a part of speech whose members modify nouns. An adjective specifies the attributes of a noun referent. Note: this is one case among many. Adjectives are a class of modifiers (Crystal 1997:8; Mish et al. 1990:56; Payne 1997:63).
Adverb
An adverb, narrowly defined, is a part of speech whose members modify verbs for such categories as time, manner, place, or direction. An adverb, broadly defined, is is a part of speech whose members modify any constituent class of words other than nouns, such as verbs, adjectives, adverbs, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Under this definition, the possible type of modification depends on the class of the constituent being modified (Crystal 1997:11; Mish et al. 1990:59; Payne 1997:69).
adverbializer
An adverbializer is a subordinating connective that links a subordinate clause to a main clause, and indicates that the subordinate clause has an 'adverbial' or interpropositional relation to the main clause, indicating purpose, condition, time, and location.
agreement
Agreement marks a morphosyntactic relation between two constituents based on one or more grammatical categories.
aspect
Aspect is the grammatical encoding of various characteristics of the event referred to in an utterance. Aspect does not form a semantically contiguous class (Comrie 1976; Bybee 1985; Sasse 2002).
augmentative
Generally, a special form of a noun that signals that the object being referred to is large relative to the usual size of such an object (Crystal 1980: 34).
cardinalNumeral
A cardinal numeral is a numeral of the class whose members are considered basic in form, are used in counting, and are used in expressing how many objects are referred to (Crystal 1997:52; Mish et al. 1990:207).
case
Case is a grammatical encoding of the relationship (syntactic or semantic) a noun bears to some other element in the sentence, such as a verb, other noun, pronoun, or adposition(Pei and Gaynor 1954: 35; Crystal 1980: 5354; Anderson 1985: 179180; Andrews 1985: 7172; Mish et al. 1990: 211; Kuno 1973: 45; Blake 2001).
classifier
A classifier is a partOfSpeech whose members express the classification of a noun (Crystal 1997:61; Mish et al. 1990:246; Payne 1997:107).
complementizer
A complementizer is a connective which marks a complement clause (Crystal 1997:75).
correlativeConnective
A correlative connective is either of a pair of coordinating conjunctions (connectives) used in ordered fashion. Typically, one is used immediately before each member of a pair of constituents (Crystal 1997:96; Mish et al. 1990:293).
definiteArticle
An article is a part of speech whose members refer to a specific, identifiable entity (or class of entities) (Crystal 1997:107).
demonstrative
A demonstrative is a determiner that is used deictically to indicate a referent's spatial, temporal, or discourse location. A demonstrative functions as a modifier of a noun, or a pronoun (Crystal 1997:312; Mish et al. 1990:338).
diminutive
Generally, a special form of a noun that signals that the object being referred to is small relative to the usual size of such an object. In some cases it may be used as a term of endearment (Crystal 1980: 116).
distributiveNumeral
A distributive numeral is a numeral which expresses a group of the number specified.
ditransitiveVerb
A ditransitive verb is a verb that takes two objects (Crystal 1997:397).
dual
Dual number is number which refers to two members of a designated class (Crystal 1997: 265).
emphaticPronoun
An emphatic pronoun is a personal pronoun that is used to emphasize its referent.
existentialMarker
An existential marker is a partOfSpeech whose members are found in distinct clause types and which mark a referent's existence (Crystal 1997:142).
expletive
An expletive (also known as a dummy word) is a part of speech whose members have no meaning, but complete a sentence to make it grammatical (Crystal 1997:127; Mish et al. 1990:437).
feminine
A grammatical class of nouns whose members tend to be perceived of as female.
FirstPerson
Reference to speaker(s), usually including themselves (Crystal 1997: 285).
FirstPersonExclusive
Distinction of the participants referred to, for example, speaker and others, but not hearer. Contrast with the FirstPersonInclusive (Crystal 1997: 285).
FirstPersonInclusive
Distinction of the particpants referred to, for example, speaker, hearer and others. Contrast with FirstPersonExclusive (Crystal 1997: 285).
gerund
A part of speech derived from a verb and used as a noun, usually restricted to non-finite forms of the verb (Crystal 1997: 279).
inanimate
One of the two grammatical genders, or noun classes, of Nishnaabemwin, the other being animate. Membership in the inanimate grammatical class is largely based on meaning, in that non-living things, such as objects of manufacture and natural 'non-living' things are included in it (Valentine 2001: 114).
indefiniteArticle
An article is a part of speech whose members are used to refer to an entity (or class of entities) which is not capable of specific identification (Crystal 1997:193).
indefinitePronoun
An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that belongs to a class whose members indicate indefinite reference (Crystal 1997: 312; Mish et al. 1990:612).
interjection
An interjection is a part of speech, typically brief in form, such as one syllable or word, whose members are used most often as exclamations or parts of an exclamation. An interjection, typically expressing an emotional reaction, often with respect to an accompanying sentence, is not syntactically related to other accompanying expressions, and may include a combination of sounds not otherwise found in the language (Crystal 1997:200).
interrogativeProForm
An interrogative proForm is a proForm that is used in questions to stand for the item questioned.
intransitiveVerb
An intransitive verb is a verb that cannot take a direct object, and describes a property, state, or situation involving only one participant (Crystal 1997:397; Payne 1997:171).
masculine
A grammatical class of nouns whose members tend to be perceived of as male.
modality
Modality is the grammatical encoding of the speaker's attitudes and opinions about the expressed proposition. Modality is concerned with the encoding of the truth status of the expressed proposition as well as the propositional attitudes such as fears, wants and desires. Evidentiality is also closely related and is often part of the formal modality system of a language. A distinction is often made between modal and mood systems in the grammar. However, here they are conflated as 'modality' (Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 176; Palmer 2001: 1).
multiplicativeNumeral
A multiplicative numeral is a numeral that expresses how many fold or how many times (Pei and Gaynor 1954:149; Hartmann and Stork 1972:147).
negative
A construction that expresses the contradiction of some or all of a proposition (Crystal 1980: 257).
number
Number is the grammatical encoding of cardinality, often found on nouns, pronouns, and verbs. Number expresses count distinctions, such as 'one' or 'more than one'. The count distinctions typically, but not always, correspond to the actual count of the referents of the marked noun or pronoun (Crystal 1980: 245; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 155; Mish et al. 1990: 811).
ordinalNumeral
An ordinal numeral is a numeral belonging to a class whose members designate positions in a sequence (Crystal 1997:272; Mish et al. 1990:831).
partOfSpeech
partOfSpeech also known as 'grammatical category' or 'lexical class', is the grammatical encoding of a lexical unit's syntactic class. While a particular theory may not utilize the notion part of speech, it is useful as part of a FeatureSystem. The set of part of speech values for a particular language can be described based on how words behave in the syntax (Payne 1997: 33; Maxwell, Simons, and Hayashi 2001).
participle
A grammatical term referring to a word derived from a verb and used as an adjective (Crystal 1980: 279).
partitiveNumeral
A partitive numeral is a numeral that expresses a fraction (Pei and Gaynor 1954:149; Hartmann and Stork 1972:165).
paucal
Paucal number is number which refers to a few members of a designated class (Crystal 1997: 265).
pejorative
A special form of a noun that indicates the speaker regards the person or object being referred to with distaste, contempt, or displeasure (Valentine 2001: 190-193).
person
Person is the grammatical encoding of the number and nature of the participants in a situation. Usually a three-way contrast is found: first, second, and third person. Other formal distinctions in languages include: inclusive/exlusive, honorific/intimate, and male/female (Crystal 1997: 285).
plural
Plural number is number that expresses reference to a quantity greater than that expressed by the largest specific number category in a language, such as 'more than one' in English, and 'more than two' in some other languages (Crystal 1980: 245; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 178; Crystal 1987: 428; Mish et al. 1990: 906).
positive
In general, positive polarity refers to an assertion that contains no marker of negation (Crystal 1980: 299).
possessivePronoun
A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that expresses ownership and relationships like ownership, such as kinship, and other forms of association (Crystal 1997:312; Mish et al. 1990:918).
postposition
A postposition is an adposition that occurs after its complement (Crystal 1997:300; Payne 1997:86).
preferred
A special form of a noun that indicates the speaker regards the person or object being referred to with favor or admiration.
prenoun
An element which may be compounded to the front of a noun to signal information such as size, color, etc. (Valentine 2001: 152-154).
preposition
A preposition is an adposition that occurs before its complement (Crystal 1997:305; Mish et al. 1990:929; Payne 1997:86).
preverb
An element which may be compounded to the front of a verb, to signal information such as tense, direction, etc. (Valentine 2001: 154-158).
proAdjective
A proAdjective is a proForm that substitutes for an adjective or adjective phrase.
proAdverb
A proAdverb is a proForm that substitutes for an adverb or other expression having an adverbial function.
questionParticle
A particle is a part of speech whose members signal a yes/no question (Payne 1997:296).
reciprocalPronoun
A reciprocal pronoun is a pronoun that expresses a mutual feeling or action among the referents of a plural subject (Crystal 1997:323; Mish et al. 1990:982).
reflexivePronoun
A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that has coreference with the subject (Mish et al. 1990:990).
relativePronoun
A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause, functions grammatically within the relative clause, and is coreferential to the word modified by the relative clause (Crystal 1997:329).
relativizer
A relativizer is a subordinating connective that links a relative clause to its head noun. It is distinguishable from a relative pronoun in that it does not have a nominal function within the relative clause (Payne1997:332)
SecondPerson
Normally used for person the speaker is addressing (Crystal 1997: 285).
singular
Singular number is number that refers to one member of a designated class (Crystal 1980: 245; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 210).
substantive
A substantive is a member of the syntactic class in which the names of physical, concrete, relatively unchanging experiences are most typically found whose members may act as subjects and objects, and most of whose members have inherently determined grammatical gender (in languages which inflect for gender) (Crystal 1997:264; Mish et al. 1990:808; Givón 1984:51-52; Payne 1997:33).
tense
Tense is the grammatical encoding of an event's location in time. It is typically marked on the verb and deictically refers to the time of the event or state denoted by the verb in relation to some other temporal reference point (Comrie 1985: 9; Crystal 1987: 384).
ThirdPerson
The manner in which other people, things, animals, etc. are referred to (Crystal 1997: 285).
transitiveVerb
A transitive verb is a verb that takes a direct object, and describes a relation between two participants (Crystal 1997:397; Mish et al. 1990:1254; Payne 1997:171).
trial
A trial number is a number that refers to three members of the designated class (Pei and Gaynor 1954: 220; Gove, et al. 1966: 2439).
verbalParticle
A verbal particle is a member of a closed class of particles which co-occur with some verbs to form phrasal verbs. In some languages, verbal particles are identical to certain adpositions.