atributivn

Atributivn is a linguistic term used to describe the attributive function of modifiers within a noun phrase. The form is typically realized in languages that distinguish attributive and predicative uses of adjectives and other modifiers. In attributive use, a modifier directly attaches to a noun to specify a property or classification, as in a "red apple" or a "stone wall." The term is often encountered in discussions of adjective inflection and position, especially in languages with rich agreement between adjectives and nouns. In many languages, attributive adjectives agree with the noun in case, number, and gender, and they usually appear adjacent to the noun, often before it, though word order can vary cross-linguistically. By contrast, predicative use occurs in a clause with a linking verb, as in "the apple is red," where the property is asserted of the subject rather than modifying the noun within the noun phrase.

Some grammars treat attributive nouns or noun modifiers as a separate subcategory, for example in languages with noun incorporation or noun-noun compounding, where a noun serves attributively to another noun. The study of attributivn is part of broader typological work on noun phrase structure and the distribution of modifiers. The term itself may appear with diacritics in languages such as Czech or Slovak (atributivní), but is commonly used in English-language linguistics in its de-accented form.