Eitekstuaalinen

Eitekstuaalinen is a Finnish neologism used to describe textual phenomena that arise in electronic and digital environments. The term blends the electronic prefix e- with teksti (text) and the suffix -uaalinen, which marks a characteristic relation or quality. In Finnish scholarly and public discourse, eitekstuaalinen refers to what is often called digital textuality: how meaning, form, and interaction are shaped by online platforms, devices, and algorithms rather than traditional print media.

The concept covers a range of materials and practices, including hypertextual and multimodal texts, interactive narratives, blogs, social media posts, online archives, and digital editions. Eitekstuaalinen texts typically exhibit nonlinearity, multimedia integration (images, audio, video), networked authorship, versioning, and data-driven curation or personalization. The term is used to analyze both production and reception: how authors craft text for digital environments and how readers navigate, remix, and interpret electronic texts.

Eitekstuaalinen stands in contrast to traditional print-oriented textuality and is often discussed within digital humanities, media studies, linguistics, and education. Critics note that the term can be underspecified or overlapping with related concepts such as digital textuality, electronic literature, and online discourse. The word remains a developing label, reflecting ongoing changes in how text is created, distributed, and experienced in the digital age.