Emäsanan

Emäsanan is a term used in Finnish linguistics to refer to a base word or root word. It is the fundamental form of a word from which other words can be derived through affixes or other morphological processes. For instance, in the Finnish word "talossani" (in my house), "talo" is the emäsana, meaning "house." The suffixes "-ssa" (inessive case) and "-ni" (possessive suffix for first person singular) are added to the base word to create the complete form.

The concept of emäsana is crucial for understanding Finnish word formation, which relies heavily on agglutination. By identifying the emäsana, linguists and language learners can decipher the meaning of complex words and trace their etymological connections. It forms the core semantic unit of a word, carrying the primary meaning.

Examples of emäsana include "kirja" (book), "juosta" (to run), and "kaunis" (beautiful). From "kirja," we can form words like "kirjoittaa" (to write), "kirjasto" (library), and "kirjailija" (author). From "juosta," we get "juoksija" (runner) and "juoksu" (a run). "Kaunis" can lead to "kaunistua" (to become beautiful) and "kaunistus" (decoration). Understanding the emäsana is a key step in mastering the morphology and lexicon of the Finnish language.