verbipohja

Verbipohja is a linguistic term used in Finnish-language descriptions to refer to the verb stem or base form from which inflected and derived forms are built. In general, the verbipohja is the core part of a verb that remains when inflectional endings are removed, though exact usage can vary between languages and traditions.

In Finnish grammar, the pohja is the element that takes inflectional endings. For example, in the verb puhua (to speak), the verbipohja is puhu-. Inflectional endings are attached to this stem to produce various forms across tenses, persons, moods, and participles. The stem may undergo minor phonological adjustments in some forms, but it serves as the constant core of the verb's paradigm.

Relation to lemma: The verbipohja is closely related to the lemma or dictionary form, but they are not always identical. The lemma is the canonical citation form, while the pohja is the part used to form all other forms; in some languages the stem can diverge from the lemma due to irregularities.

Usage and significance: In linguistics and language technology, identifying the verbipohja is important for morphological analysis, lexicon design, and natural language processing. It helps to systematically generate conjugations and derive related forms.

See also: lemma; stem; root; conjugation; morphophonology.