defectivationn.
/dᵻˌfɛktᵻˈveɪʃn/, U.S. /dəˌfɛktəˈveɪʃ(ə)n/, /diˌfɛktəˈveɪʃ(ə)n/ Linguistics.
The fact of a marked (marked adj. 1c) inflectional category lacking certain features found in the corresponding unmarked category (e.g. the marked category of the future in French lacks a subjunctive, and is thus defective beside the present, which has both an indicative and a subjunctive); an instance of this. Cf. defective adj. 3.The term defectivation is particularly associated with the linguist Joseph Greenberg, who adopted the terminology from Louis Hjelmslev.
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anomaly1585
defectivation1949
1949 P. Diderichsen in Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague 5 145 Functionally, this feature seems to be a case of what is traditionally called ‘defectivation’: a certain base (stem) ‘dominates (i.e. is presupposed by) a defectivation of’ (briefly: ‘defectivates’) a category, so that one or more members are excluded.
1957 L. Hjelmslev & H. J. Uldall Outl. Glossematics 83 It involves syncretism, defectivation, and manifestation.
1963 Language 39 328 The intensive term of an opposition is also the one on which ‘defectivations’ and ‘syncretisms’ depend.
1966 J. H. Greenberg in T. A. Sebeok Current Trends in Linguistics (1970) III. 75 I shall also consider periphrastic forms which supply forms for ‘expected’ inflectional categories as instances of defectivation.
2015 S. E. Porter Ling. Anal. Greek New Test. xii. 212 This defectivation results in few instances of the perfect subjunctive and loss of the optative, in which these tense-forms are formed periphrastically.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1949