decategorialisation

Noun

decategorialization (uncountable)

1. The loss of morphosyntactic properties that may have been characteristic of a word's initial grammatical class (category), but are not relevant to its current grammatical function; the loss of membership in a certain grammatical class.
   • Within grammaticalization theory it is generally accepted that the process is unidirectional; Ns (nouns) can develop into Pops (postpositions), but not vice versa. The concept of decategorialization applies to the extent to which e.g. the Ns cease to survive as Ns, and survive only as Pops during...2006, Kjell Magne Yri (University of Oslo), "Decategorialization of Nouns as Postpositions in Sidaamú ʔafó and Amharic", in Lutz Edzard, Jan Retsö, Current Issues in the Analysis of Semitic Grammar...