From Nouns to Predicates

This article examines the occurrence of nominal predication in modern Khmer, focusing on how lexical nouns function as predicates in clauses without verb forms. Although Khmer traditional grammar confirms the distinctions between noun and verb classes, corpus evidence from the Sketch Engine shows that nouns function as predicates and exhibit verb-like syntactic and semantic features. This study investigates the structures, functions, and semantic restrictions for nouns as predicates using corpus data from the Sketch Engine platform. The results reveal that nominal predication in Khmer is a key grammatical approach that involves category flexibility and functional shift; it is not a marginal or stylistic phenomenon. These findings challenge the existing theories of fixed word classes. The findings support the theories that treat basic word forms as not related to specific categories until they are used in sentences. This study enhances typological understanding of lexical categorization in analytic languages by integrating Khmer into a broader framework for predicate formation.