arviointisanan

Arviointisanan is a Finnish term used in linguistic discourse to describe words that express evaluation or stance toward a referent or situation. It refers to lexical items or phrases that signal the speaker’s appraisal, judgement, or affective attitude, rather than just stating facts.

Arviointisanat can take different grammatical forms. They include adjectives such as erinomainen (excellent), hyvä (good), and huono (bad); adverbs that modify evaluation such as erittäin (extremely), melko (quite), and selvästi (clearly); and evaluative noun phrases like paras ratkaisu (the best solution). In context, they convey polarity and intensity, shaping how the audience perceives the described object or event. They may appear in reviews, editorials, classroom feedback, and everyday conversation to indicate approval, disapproval, or a particular stance.

Functionally, arviointisanat contribute to stance-taking and subjective evaluation in discourse. They encode positive or negative valence, indicate strength of belief or certainty, and can signal the speaker’s emotional or evaluative distance from what is being described. Their placement and choice influence tone, persuasiveness, and reader or listener interpretation, making them central to expressive language and rhetorical effect.

In applied domains, scholars analyze arviointisanat to understand tone, bias, and audience reception in media texts, educational feedback, and sentiment analysis. While the term is used descriptively in Finnish linguistics, it aligns with broader concepts of evaluative language and stance marking found in appraisal theory and discourse studies.

See also: Appraisal theory, stance, evaluative language, attitude markers.