substatiivin

Substatiivin is a linguistic term used in some Finno-Ugric and related language grammars to denote the word class commonly referred to as nouns in English. Substatiivin words denote persons, places, things, or abstract concepts, and typically function as the head of a noun phrase and as arguments of verbs. They participate in predication and can be modified by adjectives and determiners.

In languages with case- and number-rich inflection, substatiivin nouns are marked for number (singular or plural) and case (for example nominative, genitive, partitive). Some languages also encode gender or animacy, which can influence agreement with adjectives or verbs. Word formation often creates plurals and possessive forms through affixation.

Substatiivin is distinct from other word classes such as adjectives and verbs, though some nouns can be produced from verbs or adjectives through nominalization and thus function as substantives in sentences. The syntax of substatiivin nouns varies: in many languages the typical order allows subjects to precede verbs, but noun phrases can be flexible and other elements (adjectives, possessives) may appear before or after the noun.

Examples: in Estonian, the noun koer (dog) inflects for case; in Finnish, koira behaves similarly with various case endings such as nominative and genitive. Some languages have no grammatical gender, while others use gender in agreement with related words.

See also: noun, substantiv, parts of speech.

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