Grammatical Features Inventory: Respect

In attempting to understand language, many researchers use features, the elements
into which linguistic units, such as words, can be broken down. Examples of features
are NUMBER (singular, plural, dual, ...), PERSON (1st, 2nd, 3rd), and TENSE (present,
past, ...). Features have proved invaluable for analysis and description, and have a
major role in contemporary linguistics, from the most abstract theorising to the most
applied computational applications. Yet little is firmly established about features:
we have no inventory of which features are found in the world's languages, no agreed
account of how they operate across different components of language, no certainty on
how they interact, and thus no general theory of features. They are used, but are
little discussed and poorly understood. This is a central gap in the conceptual
underpinning of much linguistic investigation.

The Grammatical Features Inventory is an attempt to put the notion of linguistic
'feature' on a sounder empirical and conceptual base. It aims to provide evidence for
the diverse content of features in the world's languages, as well as discuss some of
their formal properties, particularly in morphology (word structure) and syntax
(sentence structure).

'Respect', or 'address', is one of the overt linguistic expressions of politeness. It indicates the speaker's social relation (including familiarity with) and attitude to the addressee and sometimes also to third persons.

This resource was created for the project 'Grammatical features: A key to
understanding language', funded by the Economic and Social Research Council under
grant number RES-051-27-0122. This support is gratefully acknowledged.

在探索语言本质的过程中，诸多研究者会采用特征（feature）这一概念：即语言单位（如单词）可被拆解为的基本构成要素。特征的典型示例包括数（NUMBER，涵盖单数、复数、双数等）、人称（PERSON，涵盖第一、第二、第三人称等）及时态（TENSE，涵盖现在时、过去时等）。特征已被证实对语言分析与描述极具价值，在当代语言学研究中占据核心地位——从最抽象的理论建构到最具实用性的计算语言学应用，均离不开特征的运用。然而目前学界对特征的认知仍存在诸多模糊之处：我们尚未编制出覆盖全球所有语言的特征清单，未就特征在语言各子系统中的运作机制达成共识，也无法明确特征间的交互方式，因此至今未形成一套通用的特征理论。特征虽被广泛使用，却鲜少被深入探讨与透彻理解，这一缺陷已成为诸多语言学研究的概念基础中亟待填补的核心空白。
语法特征清单（The Grammatical Features Inventory）旨在为语言学中的"特征"概念搭建更为坚实的经验与概念基础。本资源旨在为全球各语言中特征的多样内涵提供实证依据，同时探讨特征的部分形式属性，尤其聚焦于形态学（morphology，即词结构）与句法学（syntax，即句子结构）领域。
"敬意（Respect）"或"称呼（address）"是礼貌用语的显性语言表达形式之一，它体现了说话者与受话者（有时还包括第三方）之间的社会关系（如熟悉程度）以及所持态度。
本资源是为"语法特征：理解语言的关键"项目所开发，该项目由英国经济与社会研究委员会（Economic and Social Research Council）以编号RES-051-27-0122的拨款资助，在此谨对其支持致以诚挚谢意。