Explanation
A word form is a grammatical realisation of a lexeme. For an inflecting lexeme, it belongs to a paradigm and may express particular grammatical features. Invariable lexemes also have word forms, so inflection is not a prerequisite for the concept. In relation to a lemma, the selected dictionary form must be distinguished from other forms of the same lexeme. A form type can recur in a text, and one visible form may permit several grammatical analyses. Word form, individual occurrence and uniquely determined feature bundle therefore need not coincide.
Movement of thought
1. Identify the lexeme. 2. Record its contextual form. 3. Examine grammatical features. 4. Separate form type from occurrence. 5. State the lemma's role separately.
Scientific use case
Lexicography and corpus annotation can store lemma, form and grammatical analysis separately.
Example
German geht and ging are different forms of gehen (“go”); two occurrences of geht are two tokens of the same form type.
Counterexample
An invariable adverb still has a word form despite lacking an inflectional series.
Distinction
Distinguish word form from lexeme, lemma, token and spelling variant alone.
Effect on thought and perception
Word forms connect lexical identity with grammatical realisation.
Resonance
One dictionary entry can appear in several forms within a text.
Provenance
Parallel corpus 98f0950771ae4662f291d2f15f5c51b6797f3c20ba458a68615cdb177002ea18; case-bounded source review accepted; human specialist review not claimed.
Cite this entry
Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Word form“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-NAV-G05-047. ATLAS 259, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-NAV-G05-047The address remains stable; editorial content may evolve. Editorial reading state: 2026-10-15. Include your access date for precise references.