sanakirjanlemmaa

Sanakirjanlemmaa refers to the canonical base form of a word that dictionaries use as the heading or headword for an entry. This lemma serves as the representative form under which all inflected or derived forms are organized, so users can find related forms by following entry links and inflection tables. The lemma is typically the form that is alphabetized, indexed, and cited as the primary form of the item.

The choice of a lemma follows language-specific conventions. For nouns, the lemma is often the singular nominative or base form; for verbs, the infinitive or citation form; for adjectives, the base degree. Some words have multiple potential lemmas due to irregular inflection, polysemy, or multiword expressions, which can lead to separate entries or senses. In the case of multiword expressions, the lemma may reflect the fixed phrase itself rather than a single word.

In conventional dictionaries, the lemma is connected to a range of information, including inflectional paradigms, pronunciation, etymology, usage notes, and semantic senses. In digital lexica and natural language processing, lemmatization is the computational process of reducing word forms to their lemmas to improve search, indexing, and text analysis. The concept of the sanakirjanlemmaa thus underpins both human-directed lexicography and automated language technologies by providing a stable reference form for each lexical item.

See also: headword, lemmatization, dictionary, lexicon, morphology, inflection.