keelelise

Keelelise is an Estonian adjective meaning linguistic or language-related. It is derived from keel, meaning language or tongue, with the suffix -line that forms adjectives describing a property or relation. In Estonian, adjectives inflect for case and number to agree with the noun they modify, and keeleline has several inflected forms.

Common uses and forms: keeleline is used in nominative singular to describe a noun (for example, keeleline kirjandus, linguistic literature). The word appears in various grammatical cases; examples include keelelise (genitive singular), keelelist (partitive singular), and keelelises (inessive singular), among other forms, with corresponding plural forms as required by the noun.

Applications: the term is frequent in academic and educational contexts related to linguistics, language studies, and language teaching. It can describe topics, disciplines, or phenomena tied to language, such as keelelise uurimuse tulemused (the results of a linguistic study) or keeleline identiteet (linguistic identity).

Etymology: keeleline is formed from keel (language) plus the productive adjective-forming suffix -line. It belongs to a common class of Estonian adjectives that convey property or relation to language.

Usage notes: keelelise occurs in contexts where the dependent noun is in the genitive case or in other constructions requiring that inflected form; in nominative contexts, the base form keeleline is used. The term is descriptive, not a proper noun.

See also: keel, Estonian language, Estonian grammar, adjectives, linguistics.