Kiistoina

Kiistoina is the plural essive form of kiista, meaning “as disputes” or “in the capacity of disputes.” In Finnish grammar, kiista denotes a point of contention, and the essive case (suffix -na/-nä) marks a temporary state or role. Thus kiistoina expresses that several topics are being treated as disputes or present as contentious issues.

The form is mainly found in formal or scholarly writing, including political analysis, historical narratives, and linguistic descriptions. It can appear with the verb olla: “Kysymykset ovat kiistoina” (The questions are disputes) or with plural subjects: “Nämä asiat ovat kiistoina” (These matters are disputes).

A singular counterpart exists: kiistana, meaning “as a dispute” for a single issue.

Examples include: “Keskustelussa kiistoina olivat verotus, maahanmuutto ja koulutuspolitiikka.” This illustrates kiistoina used as a predicate complement to describe multiple topics treated as disputed.

Kiistoina is relatively rare outside formal contexts and is primarily encountered in analyses of discourse or Finnish grammar. It serves as a linguistic tool to discuss how groups of topics are framed as disputes within argumentation and rhetoric.