SETO DEMINUTIIVID
Diminutives in Seto (South Estonian)

Summary/Abstract: This article provides a general overview of Seto diminutives and diminutiveness in Seto speech practice. The main diminutive suffixes of Seto are as follows: -o, -ö (e.g. jänes ’rabbit’ → jäńo ~ jänö ’bunny’); -u, -ü (e.g. härǵ ’bull’ → hällü); -i (e.g. `tütrik ’girl’ → tüdi); -nE (e.g. kana ’hen’→ kananõ ’chick’); -t´ś/-d´ś (e.g. kepp´ ’stick’ → kepet´ś); -śk and -śka of Russian origin (e.g. ladraśk ’blabber’); -kEnE, -kAnE which often form compound suffixes, e.g. [palatalisation + -o + -kanõ]: poiśś ’boy’ → poiśo ’boydim’ → poiśokanõ ’boydim+dim’. In addition to various suffixes, non-suffixal derivation mechanisms are used in Seto, i.a. palatalization (e.g. vaśk ’calf’ → vaśśo), lexicalization of genitive forms (e.g. kuld ’gold’: Gen kulla → kul´la ’dear’), gemination (e.g. mari ’berry’ → mańna), and desuffixation (e.g. repän´ ’fox’ → rebo). The frequent occurrence of diminutives in Seto also correlates with their appearance with various parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and interjections; diminutives are naturally used in the diverse system of name derivation. With some adjectives and adverbs, the diminutive suffix appears after the comparative suffix [stem + COMP + DIM], e.g. suur ’big’ → suurõ(m)b ’bigger’ → suurõ-(m)ba-kõnõ ’big-COMP-DIM’.Functionally, Seto diminutives can be categorized according to Jurafsky’s (1996) model of universal polysemy and the categories of emotional connotations of diminutives proposed by Ponsonnet (2018). However, in many cases, the Seto diminutives are multifunctional and their functions are rather explained by a more archaic, animistic world view and speaking culture in general.

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