preverbal

preverbal

English

Etymology

pre- +‎ verbal

Adjective

preverbal (not comparable)

1. (child development) At an early stage of development in which one is not yet able to communicate by means of words.
   • 1989, Anne Fernald, "Intonation and Communicative Intent in Mothers' Speech to Infants: Is the Melody the Message?," Child Development, Vol. 60, No. 6, p. 1497,

     The expressive power of intonation in communication with preverbal infants was a topic of considerable interest in the early literature on language acquisition.

2. (linguistics, of a part of speech) Occurring before the verb in a sentence or expression.
   • 1974, J. A. Dunn, "Preverbal Position in Coast Tsimshian," International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 40, no. 1, p. 10,

     I will attempt to document some recent syntactic (word order) changes involving preverbal noun phrases in the Coast Tsimshian language.

Translations

stage of development before words

French: préverbal (fr) German: präverbal Greek: προλεκτικός (prolektikós) Italian: preverbale (it)

Noun

preverbal (plural preverbals)

1. (grammar) A preverb.

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Spanish

Adjective

preverbal (plural preverbales)

1. preverbal

Further reading

• “preverbal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014