Kifejezhet

Kifejezhet is a term used in linguistic theory to denote the property of a linguistic expression that makes its expressive content explicit beyond its propositional meaning. The word is built from the Hungarian root kifejez- “to express” with the suffix -het indicating modality or potential. It is introduced as a way to discuss how utterances carry more than just factual content.

In analytic frameworks, kifejezhet refers to the capacity of an utterance to convey stance, emotion, or evaluative attitude in addition to its referential content. It is often contrasted with purely referential meaning and with conventional illocutionary force, and is treated as a dimension of expressive semantics or pragmatics. The concept invites consideration of how context, intonation, and discourse markers modulate expressive load.

The notion is typically modeled as a parameter of an expression that can vary in intensity—high, medium, or low—depending on context and emphasis. It is not a fixed property of a word but can be affected by prosody, modality, and discourse structure. The term emphasizes that language encodes speaker attitude alongside propositional content.

Examples often cited include evaluative sentences such as “That lecture was incredible,” which express positive appraisal beyond the factual claim, and hedged or stance-marking phrases like “I suppose,” which alter perceived commitment. The idea of kifejezhet intersects with expressivity, stance, affect, and pragmatic meaning, and while not widely standardized, it appears in discussions about how language encodes speaker orientation toward content. See also: expressivity, pragmatics, semantics.