nor·ma·tive / ˈnôrmətiv/ • adj. formal establishing, relating to, or deriving from a standard or norm, esp. of behavior: negative sanctions to enforce normative behavior.DERIVATIVES: nor·ma·tive·ly adv.nor·ma·tive·ness n.

NORMATIVE. A term in LINGUISTICS and EDUCATION for belonging to or serving to establish and maintain a norm, as in normative grammar. If a language, variety of a language, or culture depends for its norms on another community, it is exonormative; if it does not, it is endonormative. Most colonies and many post-colonial societies have exonormative rules: until recently AusE was exonormative in terms of BrE, but has in recent years become increasingly endonormative.