ilmiönään

Ilmiönään is a Finnish inflected form of the noun ilmiö (phenomenon). In linguistic descriptions, ilmiönään is used to express viewing or treating something “as a phenomenon.” It conveys a perspectival or analytical stance, signaling that the statement concerns the phenomenon in itself rather than some specific instance, cause, or function.

Usage and context

The form is most commonly encountered in written Finnish, particularly in academic, philosophical, or literary texts. It serves to frame a discussion around phenomena in a way that emphasizes their status as observable events or trends rather than their practical effects or underlying mechanisms. Because ilmiönään carries a distinct evaluative or analytic nuance, it is less common in everyday spoken language, where simpler forms such as ilmiöön or ilmiönä are preferred.

Relation to other forms

Ilmiönään relates to the broader category of essive-like constructions in Finnish, which express a temporary state or role. While ilmiönä literally means “as a phenomenon,” ilmiönään adds a layer of perspectival emphasis that may be analyzed differently across grammars. Some grammars treat ilmiönään as a specialized, perhaps somewhat archaic or formal variant used for precise scholarly phrasing, rather than a standard, everyday inflection.

See also

Finnish grammar, essive case, ilmiö (phenomenon)

References

Linguistic descriptions of Finnish noun inflection, scholarly discussions of perspecitve markers in Finnish, and Finnish corpora illustrating formal usage.