Puhuttamisen

Puhuttamisen is a Finnish noun form referring to the act of addressing someone or speaking to an audience. It encompasses a range of communicative functions, including direct address in conversation, exhortation or instruction, and the delivery of a formal or public speech. The term is used across linguistic, rhetorical, educational, and sociocultural contexts to describe how a speaker engages addressees through language.

In practical use, puhuttaminen involves choices about tone, formality, and pronoun usage to establish a relationship between the speaker and the addressee. It may aim to inform, persuade, motivate, warn, or acknowledge listeners. In everyday talk, puhuttaminen tends to be informal and interactional, while in political, religious, or ceremonial settings it often adopts a more formal register and structured format.

From a linguistic and communication-studies perspective, puhuttaminen is analyzed as an act of address: who is being spoken to, what social relationship is implied, and what effect the speaker seeks to achieve. Researchers may examine aspects such as pronoun selection, stance-taking, audience design, and the use of rhetorical devices to influence reception and behavior.

Related terms include puhuttelu, which denotes the act of addressing someone directly in conversation, and puhe, meaning a broader speech or address. Puhuttaminen thus covers both everyday interactive acts of speaking to others and more elaborate, purposeful discourse aimed at a specific addressee or audience. The term is found in linguistic descriptions, discourse analysis, and studies of rhetoric and public communication.