Deminutiivsete noomenite funktsionaalsusest vene ja eesti keeles mõningate Tšehhovi jutustuste ning nende tõlgete näitel
On the functionality of diminutive nouns in Russian and Estonian using some A. Chekhov stories and their Estonian translations as examples

Summary/Abstract: This study focuses on the use of diminutives in Russian and Estonian. Te current paper has three main aims: 1) to analyse the functions of diminutive nouns in twenty A. Chekhov stories; 2) to examine if these functions are preserved in the Estonian translations of these stories; 3) to identify if and how translators compensate for missing diminutives in Estonian texts. Te two languages under comparison have significant differences in the formation and use of diminutives. Namely, the Russian language provides a large number of suffixes for the derivation of diminutives and diminutives can be derived from nouns, adjectives, adverbs and even interjections. In contrast, in Estonian there are fewer means for deriving diminutives (e.g., derivatives -ke, -kene and -u for nouns; -ldane, -jas and -kas for adjectives and some other forms). Furthermore, the use of diminutives also differs significantly between Russian and Estonian. Russian allows the derivation of diminutives from almost any word (living creatures, objects and even phenomena such as rain or snow, etc.). In Estonian it is natural to form diminutives from nouns referring to people or animals, but it is much less common to derive diminutives from objects, and very rarely does this happen with nouns for natural phenomena. Analysis of original Russian texts and their Estonian translations shows that diminutives can express a wide spectrum of different meanings. Based on the 250 examples under analysis, it can be concluded that translators are fairly attentive to the functions of diminutives in original texts and they try to preserve them in translations if at all possible. If there is no way to use a diminutive form in Estonian translators at least try to compensate for it by other means.

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