Finite vs. nonfinite - Revision history

Hartmut Haberland at 16:33, 14 October 2015

2015-10-14T16:33:31Z

NBlöcher at 16:08, 18 July 2014

2014-07-18T16:08:53Z

NBlöcher: Merged the article with some of the content of Finite and nonfinite, since I am going to delete it.

2014-07-18T16:08:38Z

Merged the article with some of the content of Finite and nonfinite, since I am going to delete it.

Haspelmath at 08:00, 23 August 2008

2008-08-23T08:00:57Z

Haspelmath: New page: Clauses or verbs in inflecting lnguages are often said to be '''finite''' or '''non-finite''', which means that they either have or lack tense and/or person-number specifictions. ...

2008-08-23T08:00:31Z

New page: Clauses or verbs in inflecting lnguages are often said to be '''finite''' or '''non-finite''', which means that they either have or lack tense and/or person-number specifictions. ...

New page

Clauses or verbs in inflecting lnguages are often said to be '''finite''' or '''non-finite''', which means that they either have or lack [[tense]] and/or [[person-number]] specifictions.

===Term properties===

The abstract noun is ''finiteness''.

===Comments===

The term pair originally comes from the grammar of Indo-European languages, where finite verbs generally either have both tense and person-number specifications, or lack both tense and person-number specifications. For this reason, it is unclear how to apply the terminology when a verb form lacks tense but has person-number specifications (like the Portuguese [[conjugated infinitive]]), or when it lacks person-number but has tense.

Due to this impreciseness, a number of linguists have suggested that the terminology should be abandoned entirely in cross-linguistic contexts. For Indo-European languages, the term [[tensed]] has often been used instead in recent times.

===Origin===
The term pair was apparently created on the basis of the older term ''infinitive''. It has been in use only since the 19th century. An early use is in Murray (1798).

===References===
*Murray, Lindley. 1798. ''English grammar.'' Fourth edition.

===Other languages===
German [[finit vs. infinit]]

{{dc}}
[[Category:Morphology]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:33, 14 October 2015
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−	Clauses or verbs in inflecting ~~lnguages~~ are often said to be '''finite''' or '''non-finite''', which means that they either have or lack [[tense]] and/or [[person-number]] specifictions.	+	Clauses or verbs in inflecting languages are often said to be '''finite''' or '''non-finite''', which means that they either have or lack [[tense]] and/or [[person-number]] specifictions.

	===Term properties===		===Term properties===

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 {{dc}}
 [[Category:Morphology]]
-[[Category:Verbal Morphology]]
+[[Category:Verbal morphology]]

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 ===Term properties===
-The abstract noun is ''finiteness''.
+===Examples===
 ===Comments===
 The term pair originally comes from the grammar of Indo-European languages, where finite verbs generally either have both tense and person-number specifications, or lack both tense and person-number specifications. For this reason, it is unclear how to apply the terminology when a verb form lacks tense but has person-number specifications (like the Portuguese [[conjugated infinitive]]), or when it lacks person-number but has tense.
@@ Line 12: / Line 13: @@
 ===Origin===
-The term pair was apparently created on the basis of the older term ''infinitive''. It has been in use only since the 19th century. An early use is in Murray (1798).
+Latin finitus (from finire 'finish') means 'finished', but also 'determined', 'specified'. Finite forms are thus called because they are specified for tense and person-number.
 ===References===
 *Murray, Lindley. 1798. ''English grammar.'' Fourth edition.
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 {{dc}}
 [[Category:Morphology]]