distinctivum

Distinctivum is a proposed linguistic category that encodes contrastive distinction within discourse. The term, from Latin distinctivus, describes devices that mark a referent or proposition as being contrasted with another, beyond mere definiteness or indefiniteness. It remains theoretical and is not an established universal feature of languages.

Possible realizations are varied: a suffix on nouns, a clitic on determiners, an adverbial particle, or a functional head in a determiner phrase. The form and position of a distinctivum are language-specific, and a single language may employ several realizations.

Semantically, the distinctivum signals that two entities or states are distinct in the relevant context, and it interacts with deixis, focus, and evidentiality. It is distinguished from definiteness and specificity, which encode identifiability differently.

Example (hypothetical language X): sen means "house"; sen-di marks "the other house" in a context with two houses. On verbs, a distinctivum marker could mark that the action pertains to a contrasting state or participant.

Current status: distinctivum remains a theoretical construct with limited cross-linguistic attestation, discussed in linguistics but not widely adopted.

See also: definiteness, specificity, deixis, contrastive focus.