Affrication Diminutive Marker (Re: butterfly)

[Koontz John E]

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 bi1 at soas.ac.uk wrote:

> Cree does something similar I believe turning -t- into -c- for
> diminutive uses, though I can't think of an example not having my Cree
> books here.

I think this is a fairly common pattern for diminutives, world wide, and,
perhaps connected, for female as opposed to male speech.  The vague
reflection of the last in OP is the frequency of this as a marker of the
speech of "little old ladies" (or perhaps better, as a marker of baby
talk), the classic examples being Grandmother speaking to Rabbit.

JEK