Grammaticality

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɡɹəˌmæt.ɪˈkæl.ɪ.ti/

Definitions

1. The condition of a linguistic expression's adherence to the formal rules and structures of its language dictates its correctness and acceptability
2. A measure of how well language follows established syntactical and structural conventions defines its appropriateness
3. The extent to which an utterance or sentence correctly follows the syntactic and grammatical rules of its language

Etymology: "Grammaticality" is a plain formation: the adjective "grammatical" with the suffix "-ity" attached. The adjective comes from Latin "grammaticus," itself taken from Greek "grammatikos," meaning "of letters or literature," from "gramma," a letter of the alphabet. So the root idea is writing rather than rules. The suffix did the longer journey. It descends from Latin "-itas," which turned adjectives into abstract nouns of state or quality, passed through Old French "-ite," then Middle English "-ite," and became the modern English "-ity." Its ancestry reaches back to forms that the Proto-Indo-European reconstructions in the source trace, but the practical point is that "-ity" was a productive way to name a condition, so "grammatical" could be turned into "the state of being grammatical" whenever speakers needed one.

Synonyms: correctness, accuracy

Antonyms: incorrectness, error