verbto

Verbto is a term used in theoretical linguistics to describe a proposed class of forms that arise when verb roots are treated as functional operators within a clause rather than as straightforward lexical predicates. In this view, verbto forms originate from verbs but behave as elements that influence other sentence components, such as aspect, scope, or modality. The term is not widely attested in descriptive grammars and remains mainly in speculative or experimental literature.

In proposed analyses, verbto forms may be derived by explicit rules from lexical verbs and can appear as affixes, clitics, or bound stems. They typically interact with tense, mood, and agreement in distinctive ways, functioning not as primary predicates but as operators that modify or coordinate surrounding material within the clause.

Examples are usually theoretical; a common illustration describes a verbto form of 'eat' as marking the action as an abstract category rather than a concrete event, yielding an expression akin to "the act of eating." In other models, a verbto unit may govern the scope of another verb, affecting its interpretation.

History and reception: The notion emerged in late 20th- or early 21st-century debates on verbal morphology as a way to compare cross-linguistic systems. Critics argue that verbto is an abstract construct rather than a directly observable phenomenon, while proponents see it as a useful analytic tool for contrasting how languages treat verbal action and its grammatical consequences.

See also: verbal noun, nominalization, deverbal, grammaticalization, verbalizer.