stativity

Stativity is a semantic property of predicates that distinguishes states from events or processes. In linguistic theory, stative predicates describe conditions that typically hold over an interval without inherent endpoint, whereas dynamic predicates describe actions, changes, or processes with temporal extension. The term helps explain why certain verbs behave differently under aspect and tense across languages.

The core contrast is between stative and dynamic (or non-stative) predicates. Statives express properties such as possession, belief, emotion, or spatial relations that tend to remain constant for a period. Dynamics express activities or changes of state, such as running, eating, or melting. A given predicate can sometimes be interpreted statively or dynamically depending on context, reading, or linguistic system. For example, break can signal a change of state (the glass broke) or a resultant state (the glass is broken).

Languages vary in how stativity interacts with grammar. In many languages, stative predicates are less compatible with progressive aspect, or they take different affixes or constructions from dynamic predicates. Some languages mark single predicates with distinct forms to signal stativity, while others rely on aspect, mood, or temporal adverbials to convey the distinction. The cross-linguistic study of stativity sheds light on how languages encode time, change, and persistence.

Examples commonly cited include possession or belief as stative: "She owns a car," "I know the answer." Conversely, dynamic examples include "run," "eat," or "The door opened." The distinction also interacts with related concepts such as telicity, event structure, and resultative states, informing theories in lexical semantics and formal pragmatics. See also stative vs dynamic, aspect, event semantics, and telicity.