nounfocused

Nounfocused is a coined term used in linguistics, writing studies, and natural language processing to describe a tendency or approach that centers on noun phrases as the primary carriers of meaning. In nounfocused usage, nouns and their modifiers are foregrounded, while verbs and verbal structures may be deemphasized or streamlined.

Origins of the term are informal and diverse; there is no single canonical definition. In descriptive linguistics, nounfocused analyses treat noun phrases as core information units, highlighting nominal structure in syntax and discourse. In writing and stylistic discussions, nounfocused writing describes text that favors dense nominal phrases and nominalizations over frequent clause-level verb phrases.

Examples illustrate the contrast. Verb-focused: The committee approved the proposal. Noun-focused: The committee’s approval of the proposal. Another noun-focused variant would be: Negotiation of the terms by the committee.

Applications of the concept appear in corpus studies, where researchers examine noun-rich constructions, in pedagogy as a way to discuss information packaging, and in natural language processing, where noun-centric representations inform concept extraction and summarization. Potential drawbacks include reduced readability and ambiguity when excessive nominalization obscures agents or actions.

See also: nominalization, noun phrase, information structure, textual cohesion.