Defective
In linguistics, a word (or a lexeme ) that cannot appear in all grammatical forms of its part of speech is referred to as defective (Pl. Defective ; from Latin : dēfectus = weak, weak) . A defective noun occurs, for example, only in the singular or only in the plural ( Defectiva Numero: Singularetantum or Pluraletantum ), or not in all cases (Kasūs) ( Defectiva Casibus ), and defective verbs, for example, only exist in certain tenses or persons .
Examples
- the people who vacation ( pluralia tantum , no singular forms)
- the buildings (the singular the building is unusual today, but the building )
- is lost (only perfect, no present or simple past), but originally the past participle of "verschallen", which means "to fade away"
- is bloated (only perfect, no present or simple past)
- in English: I must, I can, etc. do not have any infinite forms
- in Latin: inquit (he / she says), aiō (I say; with only a few other verbal forms), Deponentien (without active forms)
See also
Web links
Wiktionary: Defective - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Individual evidence
- ↑ Builds. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 1 : A - Beer whey - (I). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1854 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).