Meanings
- A confusion between hierarchical levels; a two-way dependency relation, such as that between a subject and a finite verb.
1 more example
No content distinction will be needed that does not find its own mark at the level of expression. One way dependency relations (hypotaxis) will not suffice. In the vein of Jespersen and Hjelmslev I shall employ two way dependency relations as well (nexus or catataxis). The relations between subject, finite verb and object are the aim of our analysis and simple enough to serve as our example, too. Dependency relations can be seen as abstract relations of governance between syntactic categories, […] . Viewed at the level of abstract categorial dependency or governance, the relation between subject and finite verb is catataxis, the relation between finite verb and direct object is hypotaxis: (4) Subject ↔ Verb → Object
2001, Lars Heltoft, Recasting Danish subjects, in Jan Terje Faarlund, Grammatical relations in change, page 176
Origin
- Ancient Greekκατάταξις“ordering, arranging”
- Englishcatataxis
From Ancient Greek κατάταξις (katátaxis, “ordering, arranging”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
catataxis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catataxis
“catataxis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catataxis. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “catataxis,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catataxis.
Source: catataxis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.