Decategorialization

Quick meaning: Decategorialization is a noun meaning The loss of morphosyntactic properties that may have been characteristic of a word's initial grammatical class (category), but are not relevant to its current grammatical function; the loss of membership in a certain grammatical class.

Meaning

The loss of morphosyntactic properties that may have been characteristic of a word's initial grammatical class (category), but are not relevant to its current grammatical function; the loss of membership in a certain grammatical class.

Example Sentences

Within grammaticalization theory it is generally accepted that the process is unidirectional; Ns (nouns) can develop into Pops (postpositions), but not vice versa. The concept of decategorialization applies to the extent to which e.g. the Ns cease to survive as Ns, and survive only as Pops during and after the grammaticalization process.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include decategorialisation, precategorial, non-gradable, indeclinable, nongradable, prefixoid.

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