preverbal

1. not comparablehuman sciencesAt an early stage of development in which one is not yet able to communicate by means of words.

   The expressive power of intonation in communication with preverbal infants was a topic of considerable interest in the early literature on language acquisition.

   1989, Anne Fernald, “Intonation and Communicative Intent in Mothers' Speech to Infants: Is the Melody the Message?”, in Child Development, volume 60, number 6, page 1497

2. not comparablehuman sciencesOccurring before the verb in a sentence or expression.

   I will attempt to document some recent syntactic (word order) changes involving preverbal noun phrases in the Coast Tsimshian language.

   1974, J. A. Dunn, “Preverbal Position in Coast Tsimshian”, in International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 40, number 1, page 10

   1 more example

   Here, the more general construction is a simple transitive verb construction, such that the preverbal subject is the actor (causer) of the action, and the post-verbal object is the patient of the action.

   2025, Edward A. F. Gibson, “Dependency Grammar” (chapter 3), in Syntax: A Cognitive Approach, MIT Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 85

plural preverbals

1. grammarA preverb.