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1. NOUNS USED AS ADJECTIVES
One of the most notable stylistic features of writing in science and technology is the increased use of nouns as premodifiers before other nouns.
This grammatical structure in which two or more nouns function together as a unit to create a new concept is commonly referred to as a noun compound (Finn. yhdyssana).
| The Netherlands has greatly reduced the use of | fossil
(noun) |
fuels since the 1970s.
(head noun)
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| Network(noun) |
applications(head noun) | are capable of retrieving data from servers over a network. |
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Typically, noun compounds can be “unpacked” and re-written as formal definitions to determine their ultimate meaning:
| SPECIES |
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GROUP/CLASS |
DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS |
| |
1 |
2 |
|
|
2 |
|
1 |
| A |
fossil |
fuel |
is |
a |
fuel |
that is derived from |
fossils.
|
| |
1 |
2 |
|
|
2 |
|
1 |
| A |
network |
application |
is |
an |
application |
which operates in a |
network |
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Functional Categories of Noun Compounds
Noun compounds can be divided into seven different categories on the basis of their function.
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Material
What is it composed of?
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Copper wire
(A wire composed of copper)
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- Mode of Operation
How does it work?
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Friction brake
(A brake that works by means of friction)
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- Purpose
What does it do?
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Air filter
(A filter for cleaning air)
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- Location
Where is it used/ found?
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Laptop computer
(A computer that can be used on a person's lap)
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- Time
When is it used?
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Summer cottage (= kesämökki)
(A cottage that is used in the summer)
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- Shape / form
What does it look like?
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Disc brakes
(Brakes that are shaped like round discs)
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- Inventor / user
Who discovered/ uses it?
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The Doppler effect
(An effect that was proposed by Christian Doppler)
Passenger car
(A car that is used by passengers)
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Finnish vs. English usage
Although Finnish also relies heavily on noun modifiers to create new terms, English noun compounds differ in form and punctuation from their Finnish counterparts.
The most obvious difference is that the overwhelming majority of English noun compounds are not written together as a single word:
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| FINNISH | ENGLISH |
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| Haku/kone | Search engine |
| Kesä/loma/kausi | Summer vacation period |
| Liikenne/valot | Traffic lights |
| Taide/näyttely | Art exhibition |
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Moreover, Finnish uses a hyphen (Finn. yhdysviiva) to separate the name from the
superordinate word that classifes the term, whereas English simply writes these as two separate words.
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| FINNISH (with hyphen) | ENGLISH (without hyphen) |
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| GPS-laitteet | GPS devices |
| ADSL-modeemi | ADSL modem |
| Titanic-elokuva | The movie Titanic |
| Innoforest-projekti | The Innoforest Project |
| Endeavour-sukkula | The space shuttle Endeavour |
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Instead, English only uses a hyphen to indicate which word groups should be considered a single modifying unit, thus avoiding possible misinterpretation:
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Incorrect: Missing hyphen
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Model checking techniques
(= Checking techniques that are ideal for some purpose?)
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Correct: hyphenated to avoid misunderstanding
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Model-checking techniques
(= Techniques for checking [the validity of] a model)
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