<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">L O W L A N D S - L - 11 November 2007 - Volume 07
</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Song Contest: <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/contest/">lowlands-l.net/contest/</a> (- 31 Dec. 2007)</span>
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">=========================================================================</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe"><span class="EP8xU" style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">
Diederik Masure</span> <span class="lDACoc"><<a href="mailto:didimasure@hotmail.com">didimasure@hotmail.com</a>></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe">LL-L "Morphology" 2007.11.11 (06) [E]</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Hey Ron, </span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">A good friend of mine tends/used to call me Dids/Didz
but she spends a lot of time on (English speaking) messageboards and
mixes a lot of English slang in her Dutch. Apart from her (and her
sister?) I can't recall having found the suffix in this meaning in
Dutch though. </span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And of course my nickname fits the
morphological conditions you put up for this -s very well. With other
monosyll. (Dutch) names it would sound quite strange though: Jans??
(here usually affectionated jakke), berts?? etc are not possible. </span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">But
as with Jakke, it is quite common in Dutch though to use diminutive
suffixes with names, and it's possible with nearly every name. So my
guess is that this -s has the same behaviour as diminutive names in
Dutch (which don't need to have a diminutive/affective connotation).
(no meaning of cutesy altså)</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And my latvian friends call me Dîdriks as well;) but that's just a nominative -s
</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Browsing
further in your list I recognise the name Babs < Barbara, I know a
girl called Babs but nobody sees it as a form for Barbara here anymore,
while f.ex. Jakke still bears the connection to people called Jan. </span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And
paps and mams occur in Dutch as well, but sound quite 'children
language' + northern dutch to me (and they sound horrible as well!)</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Apart from these I can't come up with any examples at this late time of the night...</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
----------</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" size="2"><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" color="#888888">
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><br>Subject: Morphology<br><br>Thanks a lot, Diederik.<br><br>(I would have expected *Dieds.)
<br><br>Interesting, this Northern Dutch </span></font></font><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">paps </i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">and </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
mams</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">, though!</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Note also British English "mumsy" for one's mothers. So there's that </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">-s</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> again.</span>
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And here's another one. What shall we call it? "Derisive affection marker"?
</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">It uses the English suffix (combination) </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
-ster</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> once to derive a noun for the habitual performer of an action; e.g., "webster," "songster," "gangster" and "spinster," but also "youngster."
</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">As a "derisive affection marker" it must be accompanied by the definite article or a possessive. It doesn't seem to sound right in a large number of cases, much depending on the name's sound.
</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The following examples could be talking about a third person or addressing the person him- or herself.
</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><ul style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><li>"And who didn't turn off the coffee maker again? Could it be ... the Philster?"</li><li>"Isn't that typical of our Babster?"
</li><li>"So and what's the Chuckster planning for the weekend?"</li><li>"Late?! Surely not the Suester!"<br></li></ul><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">[By the way, this suffix, with the traditional, serious usage, exists in Dutch as well, usually forming the feminine counterpart of masculine
<i>-er</i>; e.g., <i>schrijver</i> - <i>schrijster </i>'writer'. In Middle Saxon and North Frisian it does not necessarily express the feminine; e.g. MS <i>bedrygster</i> 'deceiver', NF <i>grewster</i> 'grave-digger',
<i>wäwster </i>'weaver'.]<br><br>As many of you know, since he became governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger has been nicknamed "The Governator" (because of his role in the movie "The Terminator" [which I like to refer to as "The Exterminator"]). Twice now I have heard Californians call him "The Terminatester."
</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">These days some people use German-derived </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
-Meister</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> instead; e.g.,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><ul style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><li>"If it isn't the Mark-Meister (~ Markster)!"
</li><li>"So have you mentioned it to the Tim-Meister (~ Timster) yet?"<br></li></ul><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And then there's the suffix </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
-o</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> that can be used with certain one-syllable men's names (abbreviated or not); e.g., Jacko, Ronno, Phillo, Peto, Chucko, Johnno, Jimbo (note the "b"). I have come across this one especially in Britain and Australia and have a feeling it's pretty old.
</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">More to think about.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Regards,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Reinhard/Ron</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">