Phi features

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

  1. ↑ The syntax of number, person, and gender: a theory of phi-features, Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1993, p.2"


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