The process by which ordinary words gradually become grammatical markers.
In precise terms
A diachronic process in which lexical items develop grammatical functions, and grammatical items become more grammatical still, typically with loss of phonological substance and semantic specificity.
An example
going to → gonna
What is going on here
English 'go' was a verb of motion; 'be going to' became a future marker and then reduced to 'gonna', which can no longer express literal motion — 'I'm gonna the shop' is impossible. Meaning bleached, form eroded, function became grammatical.
Why this matters when you are learning a language
Grammaticalization explains why irregular grammar exists. Today's irregular verb is yesterday's ordinary word worn down by frequency, which makes the irregularity historical rather than arbitrary.
Across languages
The same pathways recur worldwide: verbs meaning 'go' becoming futures, verbs meaning 'finish' becoming perfectives, and nouns meaning 'back' or 'head' becoming spatial adpositions.
Related terms
- DerivationAdvanced — Making a new word from an existing one — often changing its word class.
- MorphemeAdvanced — The smallest unit of a language that carries meaning or grammatical function.
- TenseBeginner — Grammatical marking that locates an event in time — past, present or future.
- AspectIntermediate — Grammatical marking of how an event unfolds — whether it is ongoing, completed, repeated or just beginning.
- CliticAdvanced — A small grammatical form that cannot stand prosodically on its own and leans on a neighbouring word.
Where to go next
- Language guides — See grammatical and lexical categories used in context.
- Terminology quiz — Test the terms on this page.