postnoun

Postnoun is a term used in linguistic typology to describe material that follows the noun head within a noun phrase. It designates post-nominal elements, including adjectives, determiners, numerals, classifiers, relative clauses, and certain nominal compounds that come after the head noun. The concept is used to distinguish post-nominal modifiers from prenominal modifiers, which appear before the noun.

Across languages, post-nominal modifiers occur in a variety of patterns. In Spanish, adjectives typically follow the noun, as in casa blanca (white house). French and Portuguese show similar tendencies in standard phrases. In English, adjectives are usually prenominal, but post-nominal elements appear in other constructions such as relative clauses ("the man who spoke") or certain fixed expressions and stylistic registers ("attorney general," "president elect"). Some languages also use post-nominal determiners or classifiers as a productive part of noun phrases.

In scholarly usage, postnoun is not a universal label found in all grammars; more common terms include post-nominal modifier or postnominal position. The term helps linguists compare how different languages encode additional information about a noun—such as description, specificity, or classification—after the noun head, and it highlights contrasts with prenominal structures.