Formation or modification of a substantive notion on the basis of the participation of the object designated in a situation (concept anchoring) is achieved at the levels of syntax and word-formation. Such notions may be freely formed by orienting the proposition representing the situation towards the participant in question. This operation converts the proposition into a notion which designates a kind of object.

• Such a substantive notion may be formed to characterize a referent ad hoc by the role that it happens to play in a certain situation; then it happens preferably at the syntactic level.
• Or else it may categorize a referent in an inherent, essential way; then it happens preferably at the level of word formation.

If a proposition is oriented at the level of syntax, the underlying clause is necessarily subordinate. If the operation is marked formally, the oriented clause is nominalized s.l. In many languages, this amounts to relative clause formation.

Like any other grammatical construction, the relative construction is defined by formal and functional criteria. This delimitation problem is discussed as an example of the general methodological problem of the status and conception of interlingual grammatical entities.