Grunnmyndarformið

Grunnmyndarformið is the canonical form of a word used as its lemma in Icelandic linguistics. It represents the base form from which all inflected forms are derived, and it serves as the headword in dictionaries, language teaching, and computational processing. The grunnmyndarformið is not a single fixed form across all word classes; its realization depends on the part of speech.

For verbs, grunnmyndarformið is typically the infinitive form. For example, the verb meaning “to write” has grunnmyndarformið skrifa. This form is what lexicographers and language technologies commonly list as the dictionary entry, with other forms such as various tenses and moods generated from it through morphological rules.

For nouns, grunnmyndarformið is usually the singular nominative form, which functions as the lemma for the word. An example would be hundur (a dog). Plural and other case endings are derived from this base form.

For adjectives, the grunnmyndarformið is generally the masculine singular nominative form, which acts as the lemma for that adjective. Other gender, number, and case forms are then produced from this base.

In practice, the grunnmyndarformið is central to lemmatization and morphologically aware processing of Icelandic text. It helps unify analysis, search, and lexicographic representation by providing a single reference form for each word. Irregulars, multiword units, and proper nouns may present special cases where the basis differs from a straightforward infinitive or singular nominative.