kohdesanaa

Kohdesanaa is a term used in linguistics to denote the word that encodes the direct object of a clause. The word is formed from Finnish roots kohde, meaning “target” or “object,” and sanaa, meaning “word.” It appears mainly in descriptive discussions of object marking and transitivity, and is not a universal standard term across all linguistic traditions.

In theoretical analyses, the kohdesanaa is the element that the verb acts upon. Its realization varies cross-linguistically. In languages with rich case systems, the kohdesanaa is often marked by a dedicated object case or by case inflection on the noun. In languages with relatively free word order and limited morphology, the kohdesanaa is identified primarily by its syntactic position as the object.

Examples help illustrate the concept. In Finnish, the sentence Kissa näki hiiren (“The cat saw the mouse”) has hiiren as the kohdesanaa, the word functioning as the direct object within the clause. In English, in The girl reads a book, the kohdesanaa would be the word “book,” serving as the direct object.

Relation to other concepts is central: the kohdesanaa is discussed alongside the subject, object marking, and transitivity. The term is most commonly found in Finnish-language resources and in theoretical discussions that adopt Finnish terminology, and its usage may vary or be less emphasized in some frameworks.

See also: Direct object, Object marking, Accusative case, Transitivity.