kasusaaja

Kasusaaja is a linguistic term used in discussions of event semantics to denote the entity that causes a change of state or event. It roughly corresponds to the English concept of a causer or causal agent. The term is sometimes proposed in Finnish theoretical frameworks to label the performer of a causal action when distinguishing various semantic roles in sentences or clauses.

Etymology and conceptually related terms. Kasusaaja draws on the Finnish root kausa- from the Latin causa meaning cause, with the agentive suffix -aja forming a noun that designates the doer or initiator. In practice, kasusaaja is positioned as a distinct category from other agentive roles such as the deliberate doer (tekijä) or the initiator understood as a source of change without agency. The core idea is to identify who or what brings about a result, rather than who performs a deliberate action.

Usage and scope. Kasusaaja is mainly discussed in theoretical linguistics and cross-linguistic studies of causation and event structure. It is not universally used in everyday Finnish grammar, where terms like aiheuttaja or tekijä are more common. In analyses, kasusaaja helps separate causal force from intentional action, allowing more precise descriptions of how languages encode cause-effect relations.

Examples. In discussing a sentence such as The storm was the kasusaaja of the power outage, the storm is treated as the causal force that brought about the outage rather than as a character performing an action. Some scholars prefer alternative labels, but kasusaaja is used in specific theoretical contexts to emphasize causation.

See also. Kausaalinen, kausaalisidokset, aiheuttaja, tekijä.

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