Väitelause

Väitelause is a grammatical term used in Finnish to denote a sentence that expresses a claim or assertion. In Finnish grammar, väitelause is a declarative sentence, typically presenting information or a proposition, as opposed to interrogative or imperative forms. It is employed in both everyday language and formal writing to convey statements that can be true or false.

Structural features include a subject and predicate, and the sentence usually ends with a period. Väitelause can signal certainty or hedge a claim through modality or adverbials, for example using words like ehkä, varmasti, or saattaa. The strength of a väitelause may vary from definite to tentative depending on the speaker’s attitude.

In discourse, the väitelause often functions as the central claim or thesis. In argumentative texts, it states the main point that the subsequent reasoning aims to support. In educational settings, students may identify the väitelause in a source text or craft a väitelause as their own thesis.

Relation to other sentence types: Väitelause contrasts with kysymyslause (question sentence) and käskylause (imperative sentence). In metalinguistic discussions, väitelause is sometimes described as the declarative sentence in Finnish grammar.

Examples: "Ilmakehän hiilidioksidipitoisuus on kasvamassa." "Tämä politiikka lisää taloudellista vakautta." "Ilmastonmuutos vaikuttaa sään ääri-ilmiöihin." The latter may carry hedging to reflect uncertainty.

The concept is primarily used in Finnish linguistics and rhetoric to describe how texts present their main claims, and it aligns with the general notion of a declarative proposition in logic and discourse analysis.