Information About ®Diminutive |
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ENGLISH USAGE IN GENERAL Diminutives are common in most dialects of English . Terms such as "undies" for Underwear and "movie" for "moving picture" are frequently heard terms in English. (Note that analogous expressions in languages in which diminution is a regular part of the grammar would not be called diminutives.) Common diminutives are:
AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH Australian English is known for its use of diminutives with the "-za" suffix applied to the shortened version of a person's name, especially one ending in -(r)r- plus vowel. Thus "Barry" becomes "Bazza" and "Gary" becomes "Gazza" though this is not routinely done with all names. Female names may also be shortened, such as "Sharon" becoming "Shazza" and Marion, "Mazza". This use of diminutives is also found in British English . As in other English speaking countries, the suffix -ie is also used for diminutives of given names, creating names such as Petey (from Peter), Dougie (Douglas), Johnny (Jonathan) and Robbie (Robert). Australians also have a tendency to create diminutives of surnames. These more often employ the -o suffix, as in Johnno (for someone named Johnson) and Robbo (for someone named Roberts or Robertson). Sometimes a diminutive lengthens the original word as seen in the ubiquitous American term "hottie" to denote sexually appealing (or "hot") young man or woman. Diminutives aside from proper nouns Many other words are replaced with diminutives in Australian English. Emergency-services personnel are often referred to as ''ambos'' and ''firies'' instead of "ambulance officers" and "firefighters". Similarly, medical professionals are frequently known as ''medicos''. Well-known bodies are also subject to this process, as with the Salvation Army being known as ''the Salvos'' or McDonalds being ''Macca's''. Garbage collectors are almost universally known as ''garbos''. NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGES WITH REGULAR USE OF DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES In many languages formation of diminutives by suffixes is a regular part of grammar. All nouns, not just proper nouns can be diminuted. The word "diminutive" is used in a narrower and less vague sense here than when referring to English. The basic meaning of diminution in these languages is "smallness of the object named"; endearment, intimacy etc. is secondary and dependent on context. For example, the name of the last Roman emperor of the western part of the Roman Empire - Romulus Augustus - was diminuted to Romulus Augustulus (little Augustus) to emphasise the contrast between the grandness of the name and political insignificance of its bearer, in this case the connotation of diminution is derogatory, no endearment here. Other Germanic languages German German features words such as "Häuschen" for "small house", "Würstchen" for "small sausage" and "Hündchen" for "small dog". The use of diminutives is quite different between the languages and dialects. The Alemannic dialects for example use the diminutive very often. There are two Suffixes that can be systematically applied in German:
Suffixation of the diminutive suffixes –chen and –lein to a finally stressed Word Stem causes Umlaut of the stressed vowel. In Austrian German , the -erl suffix can replace almost any usual German diminutive. For example, the normal word for "girl" in German is "Mädchen", and while Mädchen is still used frequently in Austrian German, a more colloquial "cute" usage would be "Mäderl". It is very common for Austrians to replace the normal "Bisschen" ("a little" as in "can I have a little more") with "Bisserl". This has become a very distinctive feature of Austrian German. Several other German regions have their own diminutives that are region specific. In South German, -l or -el is often used. Dutch and Low Saxon In Dutch and in East Frisian Low Saxon , -je, -tje, and -pje are used as a diminutive suffix (e.g. ''huis'' becomes ''huisje'' (little house); ''boom'' becomes ''boompje'' (little tree)). Some words have a slightly different suffix, even though the diminutive always ends with -je. For example, ''man'' becomes ''mannetje'' (little man). In other Dutch varieties of West Low Saxon , spoken in the east of the country, diminutives occasionally use the Umlaut in combination with the suffixes -gie(n). Examples: Compare this with the German suffix -chen In other cases they use the suffix -ke(n) as in Flemish :
Both forms are corresponding with the English diminutive -kin, e.g. lambkin, pumpkin. In Dutch the diminutive is used very often, whereas in North Low Saxon , the diminutive is rarely used, (except maybe Gronings . The same goes for the North Germanic Languages . Scots In Scots diminutives are used much more frequently than in English. The diminutive is formed by the Suffix ''-ie'', ''-ock'', ''-ockie'' or ''–ag''. Examples include:
See Also: List of English words of Scots origin Romance languages Latin In the Latin language the diminutive is formed also by suffixes.
Similarly, the diminutive of Gladius ( Sword ) is Gladiolus , a Plant whose Leaves look like small swords. Italian In is similar to an Opera , but dealing with less serious topics. "Signorina" means " Miss ", whereas "signorino" would be a Pejorative belittling of a Man . The Augmentative also exists: -one. Spanish ''More detail at Spanish Nouns ''. In ". Names can be somewhat more arbitrary, but still follow a loose pattern. A list of common(and not so common) names and their diminutive forms:
Portuguese In Portuguese , the most common diminutives are formed with the suffixes "-(z)inho", "-(z)inha", "-(z)ito" and "-(z)ita", which replace the masculine and feminine endings "-o" and "-a", respectively. The forms with "z" are normally added to words that end in stressed vowels, such as "café", "cafezinho"; "pouco", "pouquinho" (a very small amount). Popular diminutives may have different forms: "e.g.", "poucochinho". Diminutives of nouns are widely used in colloquial language. Occasionally, they may also be applied to adverbs ("e.g.", "só"/"sozinho", both meaning alone), adjectives ("e.g.", "tonto"/"tontinho", meaning "silly" and "a bit silly") and even verbs ("'e.g.", "correndo"/"correndinho", both meaning "running", but the latter having a sense of endearment). French French diminutives usually end in -ette, such as ''fillette'' (young girl) or ''courgette'' (small marrow = zucchini) and this frequently carries over into English as well. While informal French often produces diminutive effects simply by cutting a word in half (''McDo'' from ''McDonalds'', ''fixs'' from ''fixations'' 'ski bindings'), the ending ''-oche'' is sometimes used. For example, ''cinoche'' (''ciné'') and ''MacDoche'' (''McDonalds''). Slavic languages Czech In Czech diminutives are formed by suffixes, as in other Slavic Languages . Every noun has a grammatically correct diminutive form, regardless of the sense it makes. This is sometimes used for comic effect, for example diminuting the world for "giant" to mean "little giant". Diminutives can be diminuted further by adding another diminutive suffix. E.g.: "Júlie" (Julia), "Julka" (little Julia), "Júlinka" (very little Julia). Czech diminutives can also express familiarity, meliorative, and affection. Hence, "Julka" may well mean "our", "cute" or "beloved" Julia. Example: "k-diminutives" /-ka/ (feminine noun forms) táta (dad) > taťka (little/cute/beloved dad = daddy) Anna (Ann) > Anka (little/cute/beloved Ann = Annie) televize (TV set) > televizka (little/cute/beloved televisor) hora (mountain) > hůrka (little/cute/beloved mountain = a bigg hill) noha (leg, foot) > nožka (little/cute/beloved foot, leg) /-ko/ (neuter noun forms) rádio (radio) > rádijko (little/cute/beloved radio) víno (wine) > vínko (little/cute/beloved wine) triko (T-shirt) > tričko (little/cute/beloved T-shirt) pero (feather) > pírko (little/cute/beloved feather) oko (eye) > očko (little/cute/beloved eye = eyelet) /-ek/ (masculine noun forms) dům (house) > domek (little/cute/beloved house) stůl (table) > stolek (little/cute/beloved table) schod (stair/step) > schůdek (little/cute/beloved stair/step) prostor (space) > prostůrek (little/cute/beloved space) strom (tree) > stromek (little/cute/beloved tree) /-ík/ Tom (Tom) > Tomík (little/cute/beloved Tom = Tommy) pokoj (room) > pokojík (little/cute/beloved room) kůl (stake/pole) > kolík (little/cute/beloved stake/pole) rum (rum) > rumík (little/cute/beloved rum) koš (basket) > košík (little/cute/beloved basket) Other common diminutive suffixes are /-inka/, /-enka/, /-ečka/, /-ička/, /-ul-/, /-unka/, /-íček/, /-ínek/ etc. Note the various stem deformations, such as palatalization, vowel shortening or vowel lengthening. Russian Russian has a wide variety of diminutive forms for names, to the point that for non-Russian speakers it can be difficult to connect a nickname to the original. Diminutive forms for nouns are usually distinguished with a -ka or -chka/shka suffix. For example, "voda" (''вода;'', "water") becomes "vodichka" (''водичка'', "little water") and "kot" (''кот'', "cat") becomes "koshechka" (''кошечка'', "kitten"). Names can be somewhat more arbitrary, but still follow a loose pattern. A list of common names and their diminutive forms:
Some names can also be modified with a -ka ending to add a further level of familiarity, but are not normally used for adults who are not family members. Polish in Polish there are a lot of affixes which help create diminutive. Some of them are -cia, -unia, -enka, -lka, -pka for feminine nouns and -ciek, -uń, -eńki, -lki, -pki for masculine (and many, many others). For example:
Other language families Persian The most frequently used Persian diminutives are -cheh (چه-) and -ak (ک-).
Other less used ones are -izeh and -zheh.
Scottish Gaelic In Scottish Gaelic diminutives are used much more frequently than in English. The most common diminutives are: :-(e)ag - A feminine diminutive :-(e)an - A masculine diminutive. e.g.
Turkish See also Turkish Grammar . Turkish diminutive suffixes are -cik and -cegiz (-cegiz):
08.04.2006 Mehmetçik denotes Turkish Soldier in prestigious way. Arabic Muhammad's Turkish version is Mehmet and this denotes Soldiers of Muhammad or Muhammad Like. Cik suffix usually denotes small quantity, poorness, or youngness Cegiz suffix usually appended to inanimate objects. Esperanto See also Esperanto Word Formation . Esperanto has a single diminutive suffix, -et.
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