LL-L: "Diminutives" LOWLANDS-L, 27.JUN.2001 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 27.JUN.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: frank verhoft <frank_verhoft at yahoo.com>
Subject: diminuitives

Beste Laaglanders

Since quite some time I have started to study
Portuguese, and one particular phenomenon triggered
some questions that could be relevant to ask about in
the Lowlands group, viz. the diminuitives.
My questions are not really about the situations in
which one uses diminuitives, but about the formal
aspects.

1. In the language of Camões these can be used with
nouns (no prob with that), but also with adjectives
and even adverbs.
In Dutch, as far as I can think of, this is limited to
only a few expressions (and please forgive me the too
literal and hence unelegant translations into
English):

a.o.
Antwerp: Ik ben _efkes_ weg.
SD: Ik ben _eventjes_ weg.
(E: I'm going away for _a little while_)

Antwerp: Tot _strakskes_ .
SD: Tot _strakjes_ (?)
(E: See you _a bit later_)

D (very colloquial, I guess, or at least unusual, and
maybe not even to take very serious, though Van Dale
dictionary mentions it): Een _dolletjes_ 2001 gewenst.
(E: Wish you a _great_ 2001, though "dolletjes"
suggests fun too)

Antwerp: 'ij trekt _wittekes_ weg.
(E: He's turning _a bit pale_ (in the face).

Antwerp: Ge ziet er _zikskes_ uit.
(E: You look like being _a bit ill_)

Q: Can somebody think of other, erm, "common"
expressions in Dutch similar to these?
Q: Is it possible in other Lowland
dialects/languages/variants to have diminuitives with
other word classes than nouns?

***
2. In Standard Dutch, the main form is <-je>, in quite
some cases preceeded by other consonants and or
vowels, but I'll disregard these.
E.g. _tas _ - _tasje_ (cup)
E.g. _paard_ - _paardje_ (horse)

In my own Antwerp based vernacular - since I heard the
"language adviser" of the national TV station VRT on
despicable "tussentalen" (speech (lit. languages)
somewhere in between dialect and Standard Dutch), I
don't dare to write "my dialect" anymore - , the main
form is <-ke>, again, in most cases preceeded by
additional letters/sounds.
E.g. _tas_ - _taske_

Sometimes, the main vowel of the word gets shortened,
and it sometimes even changes its colour.
E.g. _ziek_ - _zikskes_ (sick)
E.g. _oës_ - _euske_ (with a very schort <eu>) (house)

In some cases, <-je> appears in the Antwerp dialect
too:
E.g. _pèèrd_ (long open sound) - _pérdje_ (short
closed sound)

Q: How are diminuitives formed in other Lowland
languages?
Q: In other Germanic languages and dialects? (:-O, a
bit off-list)
Q: Did English have diminuitives, historically
speaking?
Q: what about English <-ie>?
Q: Do these kind of sound changes occur in other LLL
too?
Q: Can somebody think of some typological "formula" in
connection with diminuitives?

Any kind of help, information, remarks, additions will
be highly appreciated, as usual.

Met vriendelijke groeten,

Frank Verhoft

PS
And I'm also interested in the Portuguese situation.
In case somebody is willing to answer/ad information
to that: would you *please* send it to my personal
e-address!!! Thank you in advance.

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