Abstract
Many languages possess morphological rules which serve to express diminution or augmentation, endearment or contempt; examples are the Breton rule relatingpotr‘boy’ topotrig‘little boy’, the Shona rule relatingchibikiso‘cooking tool’ tozichibikiso‘huge cooking tool’ and the Italian rule relatingpoeta‘poet’ topoetastro‘bad poet’. Because of the possibility of interpreting diminution and augmentation in affective rather than purely objective terms (Wierzbicka, 1980: 53ff.; Szymanek, 1988: 106ff.), morphological expressions of diminution or augmentation are not always discrete from those of endearment or contempt; that is, diminutives and augmentatives are frequently used as expressions of endearment (such as Italiansorella‘sister’ →sorellina‘dear little sister’,donna‘woman’ →donnotta‘fine, stout woman’) or disdain (Italianuomo‘man’ →uomicciuolo‘contemptible little man’,donna→donnona‘overgrown girl’).
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