[Lingtyp] query: verbal diminutives

Fri Dec 14 18:44:46 UTC 2018

Hi,

In Kalamang (kgv) verbal diminutives are formed with a prefix ko-. I have
the following examples in my corpus:

ko-welenggap = DIM-be.green = be a little bit green, be of a colour close
to green (but not quite)
ko-cicaun = DIM-be.small = be a little bit small, be quite small
ko-temun = DIM-be.big = be a little bit big, be quite big
ko-kaling = DIM-be.at.angle = be a little bit an angle

I am not (yet) aware of pragmatical extensions. This is not very frequent
and not very productive, and only seems possible with static verbs that
express meanings that are part of an adjectives class in other languages.
As for the origin, I don't know. The prefix is homonymous with an
applicative-like marker, but a diachronic connection there doesn't make
much sense semantically I guess.

Eline

Op vr 14 dec. 2018 om 18:04 schreef <
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>    1. query: verbal diminutives (Lier, Eva van)
>    2. Re: query: verbal diminutives (Dmitry Nikolaev)
>
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> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 12:34:18 +0000
> From: "Lier, Eva van" <E.H.vanLier at uva.nl>
> To: "lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org"
>         <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> Subject: [Lingtyp] query: verbal diminutives
> Message-ID: <63b22270770f44c0a38de514e968ca62 at uva.nl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> We are looking for examples and literature on verbal diminutives in and
> across languages.
>
> Currently, we have some information on verbal diminutives in various
> languages. Some examples include: German hüsteln (‘to cough lightly’),
> Italian dormicchiare (‘to doze’), Croatian grickati (‘to nibble’), Czech
> třepotat (‘to flutter’), Slovene igričkati (‘to play around’), Russian
> xaxan’kat (‘to giggle’), Finnish luk-ais-e (‘skim through (a text)’ < luk-
> ‘read’), San’ani Arabic tSaynai (‘to pretend not to hear’ < Saanaj ‘to not
> hear’), Hebrew kifcec (‘to jump around < kafac ‘to jump’), Passamaquoddy
> ə̆pə-ss-ìn (sit-dim-animate.intransitive.2 < ‘sit down, little one!’),
> Huave jujyuij (‘to shake gently’), and Lardil laala (‘to jab lightly’ <
> latha ‘to spear’).
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> We will post a summary.
>
> Many thanks in advance!
>
> Eva van Lier, Jenny Audring, Sterre Leufkens
>
>
>
> Eva van Lier, PhD
> Department of Linguistics
> University of Amsterdam
>
> www.uva.nl/profiel/e.h.vanlier<http://www.uva.nl/profiel/e.h.vanlier>
>
> P.C.Hoofthuis, kamer 6.45
> Spuistraat 134, 1012 VB Amsterdam
>
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> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 17:59:08 +0200
> From: Dmitry Nikolaev <dsnikolaev at gmail.com>
> To: "lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org"
>         <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] query: verbal diminutives
> Message-ID:
>         <CAHMCzMAgaDoZ=
> azEQBybQqcxKeSTZaY3s2F_S3wdAvabdjrMOg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> A minor correction.
>
> > Some examples include: German *hüsteln *(‘to cough lightly’), Italian
> *dormicchiare *(‘to doze’), Croatian *grickati *(‘to nibble’), Czech *tr*
> *̌epotat *(‘to flutter’), Slovene *igri**čkati* (‘to play around’), Russian
> *xaxan’kat *(‘to giggle’)...
>
> This is not standard Russian. I do not know this word, and the only example
> I found in the corpus is from a novel depicting the speech of some highly
> divergent northern dialect. The usual Russian verb for this meaning is
> *xixikat**’.*
>
> On Fri, 14 Dec 2018 at 14:34, Lier, Eva van <E.H.vanLier at uva.nl> wrote:
>
> > Dear colleagues,
> >
> >
> >
> > We are looking for examples and literature on verbal diminutives in and
> > across languages.
> >
> >
> >
> > Currently, we have some information on verbal diminutives in various
> > languages. Some examples include: German *hüsteln *(‘to cough lightly’),
> > Italian *dormicchiare *(‘to doze’), Croatian *grickati *(‘to nibble’),
> > Czech *tr**̌epotat *(‘to flutter’), Slovene *igri**čkati* (‘to play
> > around’), Russian *xaxan’kat *(‘to giggle’), Finnish *luk-ais-e *(‘skim
> > through (a text)’ < *luk- *‘read’), San’ani Arabic * tSaynai *(‘to
> > pretend not to hear’ < *Saanaj *‘to not hear’), Hebrew *kifcec *(‘to jump
> > around < *kafac *‘to jump’), Passamaquoddy *ə̆p**ə-ss-**ìn *(sit-
> > dim-animate.intransitive.2 < ‘sit down, little one!’), Huave *jujyuij
> *(‘to
> > shake gently’), and Lardil *laala* (‘to jab lightly’ < *latha* ‘to
> > spear’).
> >
> >
> >
> > 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.
> >
> >
> >
> > 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.
> >
> >
> >
> > 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.
> >
> >
> >
> > We will post a summary.
> >
> >
> >
> > Many thanks in advance!
> >
> >
> >
> > Eva van Lier, Jenny Audring, Sterre Leufkens
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Eva van Lier, PhD
> >
> > Department of Linguistics
> > University of Amsterdam
> >
> >
> >
> > www.uva.nl/profiel/e.h.vanlier
> >
> >
> >
> > P.C.Hoofthuis, kamer 6.45
> > Spuistraat 134, 1012 VB Amsterdam
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Lingtyp mailing list
> > Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
> >
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