<div dir="ltr">One should also mention the diminutive forms of the infinitive 'sleep' in Ukrainian, спати, when addressing small children, e.g. спатки, спатоньки, спаточки, спатусі, спатуні, спатунечки, спатусічки. There are similar forms in other Slavic Languages. This has given <i>shlofinken</i> in Yiddish, dim. of <i>shlofn.</i><div><i><br></i></div><div>Moshe</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Sat, Dec 15, 2018 at 11:57 AM Geoffrey Khan <<a href="mailto:gk101@cam.ac.uk">gk101@cam.ac.uk</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p>Dear Eva,</p>
<p>
</p><p class="gmail-m_3319815235683860191cam2CxSpFirst"><span>In
some Neo-Aramaic
dialects (Semitic) diminutives of verbs can be expressed
through a type of
sound symbolism by raising the pitch, e.g. ˁzaqzəq ‘to shiver
(whole body)’
[flat, pharyngealized, low F2) vs. zaqzəq ‘to throb (e.g.
finger)’ [plain,
higher F2]. See:</span></p>
<p class="gmail-m_3319815235683860191cam2CxSpMiddle"><span lang="X-NONE"> Khan, Geoffrey. 2016. <i>The
Neo-Aramaic Dialect of the Assyrian
Christians of Urmi</i>. 4 vols. Studies in Semitic Languages
and Linguistics
86. Leiden-Boston: Brill, vol. 1, p.180.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-m_3319815235683860191cam2CxSpMiddle"><span> Best
wishes,</span></p>
<p class="gmail-m_3319815235683860191cam2CxSpLast"><span>Geoffrey
Khan<span dir="RTL" lang="HE"></span></span></p>
<p></p>
<div class="gmail-m_3319815235683860191moz-cite-prefix">On 14/12/2018 12:34, Lier, Eva van
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div class="gmail-m_3319815235683860191WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal">Dear colleagues,<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We are looking for examples and literature
on verbal diminutives in and across languages.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Currently, we have some information on
verbal diminutives in various languages. Some examples
include: German
<i>hüsteln </i>(‘to cough lightly’), Italian <i>dormicchiare
</i>(‘to doze’), Croatian
<i>grickati </i>(‘to nibble’), Czech <i>tr</i><i>̌epotat </i>(‘to
flutter’),<i> </i>
Slovene <i>igri</i><i>čkati</i> (‘to play around’), Russian <i>xaxan’kat
</i>(‘to giggle’), Finnish
<i>luk-ais-e </i>(‘skim through (a text)’ < <i>luk- </i>‘read’),
San’ani Arabic <i>
tSaynai </i>(‘to pretend not to hear’ < <i>Saanaj </i>‘to
not hear’), Hebrew <i>kifcec
</i>(‘to jump around < <i>kafac </i>‘to jump’),
Passamaquoddy <i>ə̆p</i><i>ə-ss-</i><i>ìn
</i>(sit-<span style="font-variant:small-caps">dim-animate.intransitive.2</span>
< ‘sit down, little one!’), Huave
<i>jujyuij </i>(‘to shake gently’), and Lardil<span style="color:black">
<i>laala</i> (‘to jab lightly’ < <i>latha</i> ‘to
spear’).<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These examples show that the morphological
patterns that we subsume under “verbal diminutives” fulfill a
number of semantic functions, such as
iterative/frequentative/durative, low intensity,
distributivity, and attenuation. These functions may extend
(pragmatically) to playfulness, tentativeness,
pretense/irrealis/fictiveness, trivialization, aimlessness,
affection/intimacy, and contempt/pejorativeness. In some cases
(see Passamaquoddy above), verbal diminutive marking implies
that an event participant is a child or an otherwise small
entity.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also, verbal diminutives can be expressed
by various morphological means, including affixation,
reduplication, and non-concatenative morphology. In some
cases, the verbal diminutive markers are related to nominal
diminutives; in other cases, they seem to have different
origins, such as spatial markers. The productivity of verbal
diminutive formation apparently differs between languages.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would be grateful for any references
and/or examples of verbal diminutives in the language(s) of
your expertise, including their semantics/pragmatics,
formation, (diachronic) origin, productivity and usage
frequency.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We will post a summary.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Many thanks in advance!<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">Eva van Lier, Jenny
Audring, Sterre Leufkens<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Eva van Lier, PhD<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Department of Linguistics<br>
University of Amsterdam<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.uva.nl/profiel/e.h.vanlier" target="_blank">www.uva.nl/profiel/e.h.vanlier</a><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">P.C.Hoofthuis, kamer 6.45<br>
Spuistraat 134, 1012 VB Amsterdam<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="gmail-m_3319815235683860191mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
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</blockquote>
<pre class="gmail-m_3319815235683860191moz-signature" cols="72">--
Geoffrey Khan
Regius Professor of Hebrew
University of Cambridge
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge CB3 9DA
UK</pre>
</div>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr">Professor Moshe Taube (Emeritus)<div>Tamara and Saveli Grinberg Chair in Russian Studies</div><div>Department of Linguistics / Department of Russian</div><div>and East-European Studies</div><div>The Hebrew University of Jerusalem</div><div>Mt. Scopus 91905 Israel</div></div></div></div></div></div></div>