Deskriptiviseen

Deskriptiviseen is the illative singular form of the Finnish adjective deskriptivinen, meaning “descriptive.” It is used before a noun in illative case to express movement toward or entry into a descriptive domain, for example deskriptiviseen tutkimukseen or deskriptiviseen lähestymistapaan.

In Finnish, adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in number and case, so deskriptivinen changes its ending to match the noun. The illative form deskriptiviseen appears in phrases that indicate adoption or engagement with a descriptive approach, such as deskriptiviseen tutkimukseen (into descriptive research) or deskriptiviseen analyysiin (into descriptive analysis).

The term is common in academic Finnish, where deskriptivinen describes methods, analyses, and perspectives that focus on description rather than prescription. It is used across fields such as linguistics, sociology, and statistics to distinguish descriptive approaches from prescriptive or normative ones. While Finnish also uses kuvaileva as a synonym in general language, deskriptivinen is a widely established loanword in scientific vocabulary.

Examples include: “Tämä kirja keskittyy deskriptiviseen tutkimukseen” (This book focuses on descriptive research) and “Tutkimus siirtyi deskriptiviseen analyysiin” (The study moved toward descriptive analysis). In linguistics, phrases like deskriptivinen kielitiede refer to descriptive linguistics, and related forms such as deskriptiviseen kielitieteeseen show how the illative case marks direction toward the descriptive field.

See also: descriptive linguistics, normative/prescriptive linguistics, Finnish grammar.