Informaatiosanan

Informaatiosanan is a term used in certain information linguistics and discourse analyses to denote a linguistic unit that encodes a single, verifiable proposition. In this usage, an informaatiosanan functions as the smallest content-bearing unit that can be checked against known facts. The term is not widely adopted in mainstream linguistics, but it appears in niche discussions of information-centric language design and knowledge representation.

Etymology: The word combines Finnish informaatio, meaning information, with sanan, the genitive form of sana meaning word. The construction signals a unit of language specialized for conveying information content.

Characteristics: An informaatiosanan is generally truth-conditional and designed to minimize implicatures beyond the stated proposition. It is intended to be context-resilient and suitable for formal modeling of information flow. In practice, it may be realized as a simple declarative sentence or as a logically bracketed proposition in computational representations, enabling precise indexing and retrieval.

Applications: In knowledge graphs, controlled natural language, and data schemas, informaatiosanan-like units support precise retrieval and disambiguation. They facilitate fact-checking workflows, where each unit corresponds to a single, checkable claim, aiding automated verification and structured data integration.

Example: The sentence “The Earth orbits the Sun” can be treated as an informaatiosanan when presented as a stand-alone, checkable proposition within a knowledge base.

See also: Propositions, Facts, Information theory, Knowledge representation, Controlled natural language.