[Lingtyp] query: verbal diminutives

[Moshe Taube]

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 *shlofinken* in Yiddish, dim. of
*shlofn.*

Moshe

On Sat, Dec 15, 2018 at 11:57 AM Geoffrey Khan <gk101 at cam.ac.uk> wrote:

> Dear Eva,
>
> 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:
>
>  Khan, Geoffrey. 2016. *The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of the Assyrian
> Christians of Urmi*. 4 vols. Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics
> 86. Leiden-Boston: Brill, vol. 1, p.180.
>
>  Best wishes,
>
> Geoffrey Khan
>
> On 14/12/2018 12:34, Lier, Eva van 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
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> --
> Geoffrey Khan
> Regius Professor of Hebrew
> University of Cambridge
>
> Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
> Sidgwick Avenue
> Cambridge CB3 9DA
> UK
>
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>


-- 
Professor Moshe Taube (Emeritus)
Tamara and Saveli Grinberg Chair in Russian Studies
Department of Linguistics / Department of Russian
and East-European Studies
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mt. Scopus 91905 Israel
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