Definition of "preverbal"

preverbal

adjective
not comparable
1. (psychology, linguistics) At an early stage of development in which one is not yet able to communicate by means of words.
  Quotations
  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. (linguistics, of a part of speech) Occurring before the verb in a sentence or expression.
  Quotations
  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
noun
plural preverbals
1. (grammar) A preverb.