Phi features
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In linguistics, phi features are the semantic features of person, number, and gender, as encoded in such words as nouns and pronouns (which are said to consist only of phi-features, containing no lexical head). Several other features are included in the set of phi-features, such as the categorical features ±N (nominal) and ±V (verbal), which can be used to describe lexical categories and case features.[1]
When written, the symbol φ is used to represent 'phi'.
References
- ^ The syntax of number, person, and gender: a theory of phi-features, Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1993, p.2"