nominien

Nominien is a theoretical term used in linguistics to denote the underlying nominal unit that encodes the name or name-like predicate associated with a referent. It functions as a cognitive and linguistic representation that can be realized in surface forms such as words, affixes, or multiword expressions. The nominien is distinguished from the referent (the actual entity in the world) and from the phonetic or orthographic form that signals the nominien in a given language.

Etymology and scope: The term combines nom-, from Latin nomen meaning “name,” with the suffix -ien, a pattern used in some linguistic coinages to form units. The concept appears in a minority of typological discussions that seek to separate the idea of naming from its pronunciation and concrete realization.

Key features:

- It is theoretical and language-agnostic, intended to be realized differently in different languages.

- It covers both proper names and common-noun nominals as naming units.

- It can be realized by inflection, derivation, compounding, or independent lexical items.

Relations to other concepts: Nominien is related to lexemes, nominal morphology, and the mapping between semantic concepts and linguistic forms. It is distinct from the referent and from phonetic form; a single nominien can have multiple phonetic realizations across languages and contexts.

Applications and status: The nominien concept is used mainly in certain discussions of naming systems and lexical architecture. It remains a niche, theoretical construct that has not achieved broad consensus or standardization.

References: not included.