grammaticalization

Grammaticalization is the linguistic process where words evolve from having specific, concrete meanings to become more general and functional parts of language, such as grammatical markers like tense, mood, or aspect. Over time, a word that originally had a clear meaning (like a noun or verb) gradually loses its standalone significance and is used mainly to indicate relationships or functions within sentences. For example, a word that once meant "to have" might evolve into a future tense marker. This process reflects how languages naturally change and adapt their structures for efficiency and clarity.