Isolatiivne

Isolatiivne is a linguistic term used to describe a grammatical category that marks isolation of an event, action, or state. It signals that the event occurred in isolation from other events, or that the subject acted alone or exclusively. The exact function and form vary across languages; there is no single universal realization of isolative meaning. In descriptions where it is analyzed, isolative forms may be encoded by verb suffixes, clitics, or separate particles, and they often interact with aspect, evidentiality, or modality.

Functions commonly associated with isolative marking include: (a) actions performed without assistance or accompaniment; (b) foregrounding a single isolated occurrence; (c) contrasting an event with concurrent actions or with habitual or general states. Some grammars treat isolative as a mood, others as an aspect or modality, and some view it as a specialized adverbial or valency-modifying category. The presence and nature of isolative marking are documented mainly in descriptive or typological studies of minority languages; it is not a widely attested category in major world languages.

Because of cross-linguistic variation and limited data, isolative is best understood as a typological concept rather than a universal grammatical category. See also mood, aspect, evidentiality, and modality.