Participal

Participal is a proposed grammatical category in linguistics that describes a non-finite verb form intended to encode the participant’s involvement in the action of the main clause. The term is not widely adopted in major descriptive grammars and is primarily discussed in theoretical or constructivist accounts, as well as in some language-constructing projects.

In theoretical accounts, the participal is described as a non-finite clause form that can attach to a verb or a noun to signal that the subject participates in the event. Proposed realizations vary, including affixal derivation on the verb stem (for example, a dedicated sufix) or analytic constructions that combine a verb with a participial particle. Semantically, the participal is meant to mark involvement, engagement, or participation in the action, rather than merely describing the action itself or nominalizing it.

The participal is typically distinguished from related non-finite forms such as participles, gerunds, and infinitives. Participles often convey aspectual or adverbial information about action, while gerunds and infinitives nominalize or encode core argument structure in different ways. The participal, by contrast, is proposed to foreground the participant’s role in the event, potentially functioning as an adjunct to modify actions or as a label for a non-finite clause that highlights participation.

Status in scholarship and usage is uncertain. Because there is little consensus on its necessity or distinctness, participal remains largely an experimental or theoretical construct. It is more commonly discussed in the context of language description for hypothetical or constructed languages than as a mainstream category in established grammars. Some linguists view it as redundant with existing non-finite forms, while others see potential for languages or conlangs that encode participant involvement more explicitly in non-finite clauses.