referentiestamm

Referentiestamm is a term used in morphology and semantics to denote the core stem of a lexeme that carries its referential content across related forms. It represents the part of a word that encodes the basic referent or concept, while inflectional and derivational affixes provide grammatical or modification information. In this sense, the referentiestamm is a theoretical unit that helps separate meaning from form in certain analytic frameworks.

The term is primarily found in German-language linguistic literature and is not universally standardized across theories. Some authors treat the referentiestamm as essentially synonymous with the lexical stem (Wortstamm), while others posit a more abstract semantic core that may diverge from the phonological or orthographic shape of a word. Because of these variations, the exact identification of a referentiestamm can differ between linguistic traditions and analytical goals.

In practical analysis, the referentiestamm is often identified by removing affixes that signal grammatical categories (such as number, case, or tense) or by focusing on the underlying semantic unit that remains constant across derived forms. This approach emphasizes the distinction between referential content and morphophonological form, which can be useful in lexical semantics and computational lexicon design.

Example approaches to illustration are conceptual rather than language-specific: the referentiestamm is the element that stays constant when a word undergoes inflection or derivation, whereas the attached endings and affixes indicate grammatical or derivational relations. See also Wortstamm, Lexem, Morphologie, Semantik, Referenz.