preverbal

English

Etymology

From pre- +‎ verbal.

Adjective

preverbal (not comparable)

1. (psychology, linguistics) 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?”, in Child Development, volume 60, number 6, page 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”, in International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 40, number 1, page 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.

Spanish

Adjective

preverbal m or f (masculine and feminine plural preverbales)

1. preverbal

Further reading

• “preverbal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10