Nouniksi

Nouniksi is a term used in Finnish linguistics to describe the process and result of turning a word into a noun, with particular emphasis on how the translative suffix -ksi marks becoming or assuming a role. The concept captures nominalization that goes beyond simple naming and expresses a transition into a specific category or identity.

Formation and examples often involve the translative construction, where stems from verbs or nouns take -ksi to indicate “into,” “as,” or “in the capacity of” a given form. Examples include kirjoittaa -> kirjoittajaksi (into a writer), johtaa -> johtajaksi (into a leader), and nimeäminen -> nimeäksi in some constructions. In use, the phrase hän on opettajaksi translates as “he is a teacher” (acting in the role of a teacher). Nouniksi can also describe processes where a word is treated as belonging to a particular class or function, such as a noun being used in a role-labeled position.

Applications and scope extend to education, translation, and computational linguistics. Describing nouniksi helps explain how Finnish expresses becoming a noun or adopting a nominal role, and it clarifies how translative forms interact with syntactic predicates. The concept also serves as a point of comparison with other languages’ nominalization strategies, illustrating how different systems encode change of category or function.

See also: Nominalization, Translative case, Finnish grammar, Morphology, Syntactic role labeling.