katkelmaisia

Katkelmaisia is a Finnish linguistic and literary term used as an adjective in plural form to describe something that consists of fragments or excerpts. The root is katkelma, meaning excerpt or fragment; combined with the adjectival suffix -mainen yields katkelmainen ("fragmentary"), and the inflected form katkelmaisia functions as the partitive plural to modify a plural noun (for example, katkelmaisia tekstejä, "fragmentary texts"). In analysis and criticism, katkelmaisia is used to describe works that present material as a mosaic of fragments rather than a continuous narrative.

In literature, such works may arrange quotes, scenes, or images as independent fragments that interact through juxtaposition rather than linear development; in film or visual arts, it can refer to montage-like structures or collage techniques based on fragments from different sources. The term also appears in discussions of archival material or documentary practices, where records are preserved in fragmentary form or reproduced as excerpts.

The concept is characteristic of postmodern and experimental traditions in Finnish criticism, but is not tied to a single school or movement. Instead, katkelmaisia describes a feature—fragmentation—that can appear across genres and periods. When cataloging or reviewing, critics may note katkelmaisia elements to indicate a deliberate sparseness or partial presentation inviting interpretation by the reader or viewer.