Meanings
- rareuncountableThe property of being unattestable.
Thus the gradation of the direct object provides an explanation for the unattestability of [ +derived / -specific ] direct objects in the language.
1976, Gloria Sheintuch, “On the Gradation of Grammatical Relations”, in Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, volume 6, number 1, Urbana, Ill.: Department of Linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, page 1872 more examples
The unattestability of an alternative pronunciation [[…]] for disburse might at first sight be ascribed to the presence of /b/ rather than /g/ or /d/ after /s/.
1964, Revue Roumaine de Linguistique, page 19Moreover, there is no reason for excluding them from L other than their size-determined and creature-dependent unattestability which would not equally justify excluding any sentence at all from L.[…]Thus no linguist can ignore transfinite sentences on the grounds of their unattestability without equally ignoring almost all finite sentences.
1984, D[onald] Terence Langendoen, Paul Martin Postal, The Vastness of Natural Languages, Basil Blackwell, published 1985, →ISBN, pages 39 (Sentence Size Bounds) and 158 (The Characterization of Transfinite Sentences)
Cite this entry
unattestability. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unattestability
“unattestability.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unattestability. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unattestability,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unattestability.
Source: unattestability on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.