grammarization

Grammarization is a term that may appear in discussions of language change, but in most linguistic literature the preferred term is grammaticalization. The word can refer to two related notions: (a) the standardization or codification of a language's grammar through education, policy, or prescriptive norms; or (b) the diachronic process by which lexical items or constructions take on grammatical functions.

In grammaticalization, a lexical item evolves to function as a grammatical marker rather than as a content word. The typical path involves semantic bleaching (loss of concrete meaning), phonological reduction, reanalysis of the item’s grammatical category, and increased obligatoriness of its use. The result is a new grammatical element that helps encode tense, aspect, evidentiality, mood, or other grammatical relations.

Commonly cited examples in English include will, which originated as a verb of volition in Old English and later became a future auxiliary; and be going to, which shifts from a motion-plus-infinitive construction to a near-future marker. Grammaticalization is widely examined in historical and sociolinguistic studies and is considered a pervasive pathway of language change across many languages. The field emphasizes diachronic, cross-linguistic evidence and seeks to explain how grammatical markers emerge, diversify, and become entrenched in syntax.

Scholarly work on grammaticalization has been advanced by researchers such as Paul Hopper and Elizabeth Traugott, with earlier foundational ideas associated with Meillet and other early linguists. Related discussions address semantic bleaching, category change, and the interfaces between grammar and meaning.