ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

Contextual explanation · NAV-G03-032

Categorisation

This explanation addresses the term in its originating context. It is not an additional canonical Atlas profile.

Explanation

Category formation here concerns the emergence or development of a new grouping. Its focus is not assigning another case to an available category but developing the distinctions that make such assignment possible. Comparison, practical tasks or explicit agreement may produce those distinctions, which may later change. This contextual explanation therefore links onwards to the existing categorisation entry for the broader process of classification. Inventing a new label alone does not establish a new category if the same cases remain grouped by the same criteria.

Movement of thought

1. A task calls for a distinction. 2. Compare relevant cases. 3. Propose a shared criterion. 4. Test its boundary with new cases. 5. Stabilise or revise the category.

Example

An archive team first develops a class for letters that also function as invoices. It subsequently assigns further documents to it.

Counter-test

Sorting a hundredth letter by an unchanged rule applies a category; it does not by itself form a new one.

Scientific use case

A learning study can distinguish the emergence of a new rule from improvement in applying it.

Effect

The explanation makes the development of an organising system available for investigation.

Resonance

Before things can find their place, a new kind of place may have to emerge.

Distinction

Distinguish category formation from naming, category application and categorisation more broadly.

Sources