Definition of "markedness" []

• The phenomenon of words, forms or phonemes that are considered to be more complicated, less natural or stranger than usual forms. (noun)

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• "So when asking for help, there would be no difference in markedness here, for you?"
• "To add further irony, Allan Bomhard had recently offered an excellent alternative to Illich-Svitych's ejective-rich theory to finally address markedness problems by turning ejective stops into plain stops."
• "While analogical change within the numeral set is common and possible in general, it doesn't appear probable here when Starostin's typically "parenthetic" *ŋi̯u "3" has not been demonstrated with regular sound correspondences using a competently reconstructed phonology that doesn't violate phonemic markedness at every turn."