Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Grammatical Category

Definition: 

A grammatical category is a set of syntactic features that:

  • express meanings from the same conceptual domain
  • occur in contrast to each other
  • are typically expressed in the same fashion
Discussion: 

The term ‘grammatical category’ has been used to cover a wide variety of things, including what traditional grammars call "parts of speech."

Examples: 

(English)

  • A set of verb affixes that express aspect
  • A set of auxiliary verbs that express modality
Source: