Nominalklammer

German

Etymology

From nominal (“nominal, of a noun”) +‎ Klammer (“bracket, clamp”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -amɐ

Noun

Nominalklammer f (genitive Nominalklammer, plural Nominalklammern)

1. (linguistics) A syntactic phenomenon in some Germanic languages (and perhaps other languages) according to which attributes usually precede the noun in a noun phrase even if this creates a wide gap between the noun and its article or determiner at the beginning of the phrase.

Usage notes

• The sentence hereunder is an example of a wide Nominalklammer in German. Such wording could, of course, be criticised stylistically, but it could not be argued to be ungrammatical in any way.

Sie trug das von ihrer Mutter für sie genähte und mit den Blumen, die sie tags zuvor gepflückt hatte, geschmückte Kleid.

She wore the dress her mother had sewn for her, embellished with the flowers that she had picked the day before.

(literally, “She wore the by her mother for her sewn and with the flowers, which she day before picked had, embellished dress.”)

Declension

Declension of Nominalklammer [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Nominalklammer	die	Nominalklammern
genitive	einer	der	Nominalklammer	der	Nominalklammern
dative	einer	der	Nominalklammer	den	Nominalklammern
accusative	eine	die	Nominalklammer	die	Nominalklammern

Related terms

• Verbalklammer