jälkiosan

Jälkiosan is a term used in Finnish linguistics to denote the suffix portion of a word—the part that comes after the stem and carries inflectional or derivational meaning. In morphological analysis, jälkiosa is described as the trailing component that attaches to the base form, helping to encode grammatical category (such as case, number, or mood) or to create new words.

Etymology and usage: the word arises from Finnish words jälki meaning after or post and osa meaning part; in grammar descriptions the form jälkiosa (and its genitive jälkiosan) is used to discuss the suffix portion of a word. In practice, many Finnish words consist of a stem plus one or more suffixes, and the jälkiosa encompasses these suffixes. For example, in talossa (in the house), talo is the stem and -ssa is a suffix indicating location; here the suffix is part of the jälkiosa. In other cases, several affixes may combine to form the full trailing part of a word, illustrating how jälkiosa can consist of multiple morphemes.

Relation and scope: the concept helps separate the core meaning-bearing stem from the modifiers that modify grammatical function or meaning. It is used in dictionaries, grammar guides, and computational linguistics to describe word formation and to aid in parsing and stemming. The specific composition of a jälkiosa can vary by word and analysis, reflecting the rich inflectional and derivational system of Finnish.

See also: suffix, inflection, derivation, Finnish grammar, morphological analysis.