Eristuvaks

Eristuvaks is an Estonian term used primarily in linguistic and analytical contexts to describe features, states, or entities that can be distinguished from others. The word derives from the verb eristama, meaning to distinguish, combined with the participial stem eristuv and the translative suffix -aks, which marks a change into a new state. As such, eristuvaks denotes the capacity or tendency to become distinguishable or to be made distinguishable under certain criteria.

In linguistics, eristuvaks is used to discuss phonetic, morphological, or semantic features that enable differentiation between items. For example, a set of phonemes may be eristuvaks in a particular language dialect, meaning they can be told apart by listeners or by analysis. In corpus studies and cognitive science, the concept is used to describe discriminable features that allow classifiers to separate categories, or to note when a feature becomes eristuvaks under certain conditions.

In practice, writers may speak of eristuvaks features or principles to emphasize discriminability, as opposed to features that are homogeneous or thus non-discriminable. The term is chiefly found in Estonian-language scholarship and is less common in non-Estonian literature; when translated, it is often rendered as "distinguishable" or "discriminable."

See also: distinguishability, discriminability, Estonian grammar, translative case.