Appózíció

Appózíció is a term used in linguistics to describe a grammatical construction where two noun phrases are placed next to each other, with the second noun phrase renaming or further identifying the first. This is often done without any connecting words or punctuation. For example, in the sentence "My friend, John, is here," "John" is in apposition to "my friend," providing his name.

The noun phrase in apposition is typically of the same grammatical number and case as the noun phrase it modifies. This can occur in various contexts, from simple identification to more complex descriptive phrases. The relationship between the two noun phrases is one of equivalence or clarification. In some languages, apposition might be marked by specific grammatical features, while in others, it relies solely on word order and context.

Appositive constructions are common in many languages and serve to add detail, specificity, or alternative phrasing to a sentence. They can be restrictive, meaning the appositive phrase is essential to identify the preceding noun, or non-restrictive, providing additional, but not essential, information. The latter is often set off by commas in English. Understanding apposition is key to parsing sentence structure and comprehending the relationships between different parts of a sentence.