Laadunnominaali

Laadunnominaali is a term used in linguistic discussions to describe a nominal construction that encodes a evaluation of quality directly on the noun, rather than through a separate adjective or relative clause. In this sense, the quality marker is integrated into the noun’s form or its immediate nominal syntax, affecting how the noun is interpreted in a clause.

The term appears to be a compound built from elements meaning “quality” and “nominal,” and is primarily encountered in niche theoretical writings or typological surveys. It is not widely standardized or universally adopted in mainstream grammars, and its precise definition can vary across studies. Because of its confined usage, laa­dun­naomin­aali often serves as a point of comparison for discussions about how languages express inherent properties of objects within noun phrases.

Typologically, laadunnominaali is discussed as a feature that can surface through affixes attached to the noun, through inherent noun semantics in highly morphologized systems, or through systematic interactions with definiteness, countability, and noun classifiers in certain languages. It is typically contrasted with the use of separate adjectives or predicative constructions to convey quality.

For illustration in a hypothetical language, a noun head might bear a quality marker as an affix, such as a suffix that signals “high quality.” For example, a base noun karo (car) could become karo-laatu (high-quality car), with the marker integrating into the noun phrase and influencing agreement or definiteness in the surrounding structure. Such examples are used to explore how nominal quality marking could function cross-linguistically.

See also: nominal phrase, adjectives, classifiers, definiteness.