Obligativ

Obligativ is a term used in linguistics and grammar to refer to the property of something being obligatory or binding within a given context. It derives from the Latin obligatus, meaning bound or compelled, and is related to the idea of obligatoriness. In cross-linguistic typology and grammatical descriptions, obligativ describes phenomena where certain elements or forms are required rather than optional, such as arguments that must be licensed by a verb or moods that encode necessity.

The concept is often discussed in the study of valency and argument structure, as well as in analyses of mood systems. It is used to distinguish constructions that require specific participants or grammatical markers from those that allow for optional or implicit elements. In some frameworks, obligativ can refer to the obligatory presence of an argument, a required syntactic position, or a morphological marking that signals obligation. It is sometimes connected with deontic meanings (must, required) but remains a broader notion tied to structural necessity within a language.

In practice, obligativ can appear as a descriptive label in typological surveys or language descriptions where a particular predicate imposes obligation on its surrounding structure. It is not a universally standardized term in all branches of linguistics; in many contexts, researchers prefer more common terms such as obligatory, obligatoriness, or obligation, depending on the specific analysis.

See also: obligation, obligatory mood, deontic modality, grammatical mood, obligatoriness.