Identitatiiv

Identitatiiv is a term used in linguistic typology to refer to a potential grammatical category that marks identity between referents in discourse. It is described as a case-like marker, clitic, or particle that signals that two mentions refer to the same entity. The identitatiiv can be realized as a suffix on a noun, a separate particle in the verb phrase, or a standalone pronoun-linked element, depending on the language.

Semantically, identitatiiv conveys identity rather than possession, number, or spatial relation. It is used to anchor an entity to a previously established referent, often in contexts where repeating the name would be redundant or stylistically marked as emphatic, e.g., to express “the very X” or “X himself/herself.” It is distinct from the genitive or possessive, which encode relational attributes, and from demonstratives or anaphors, which point to referents without asserting identity as such.

Attestation and status vary. The identitatiiv is not a universally attested or widely accepted category. In many descriptions it appears as a theoretical proposal or as a label applied to a language’s idiosyncratic constructions rather than as a standard grammatical case. Some researchers treat it as a genuine morphological category in specific languages, while others analyze similar functions through clitics or discourse-pragmatic devices.

See also: anaphora, demonstratives, pronouns, case marking, genitive.