The structure of second-grade diminutives in czech and slovak. A corpus-based synchronic-diachronic analysis

Abstract

In Slavic languages, diminutivization is a highly productive morphological process. A diminutive marker can be attached to nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. Secondary or even multiple diminutives are also possible. Considering the combinability of diminutive suffixes in nouns, Manova and Winternitz (2011) claim that only productive DIM1 suffixes function as DIM2 suffixes. The aim of this paper is to verify this idea on the basis of the analysis of data from Czech and Slovak. The DIM2 for the analysis were excerpted from the corpora. Neither Czech nor Slovak current sources apprehend diminutive markers as combinations of primary and secondary diminutive suffixes. The complex character of secondary diminutivizers is understood as a diachronic issue. Therefore, a historical analysis of all secondary diminutives was necessary. The research proved the assumption about the combinability of diminutive markers. The analysis also revealed that unproductive DIM2 suffixes are attached by substitution in both languages.

Keywords

• primary diminutive markers
• secondary diminutive markers
• czech
• slovak
• synchrony
• diachrony.