What is a closed class?

Definition
	A closed class is a grammatical class of words with limited membership. These words have primarily grammatical meaning.

Examples
	conjunctions demonstratives determiners pronouns auxiliary verbs (in English)

Concept module: closed class
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): C
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004