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The theme (objective) of this master’s thesis is the use of the diminutives in the internet chat. The examples are collected from the internet chat, www.hot.lt/romance/love.htm. In the Lithuanian language the diminutive forms of nouns are more frequent than the diminutives of adjectives. That is clear from the collected examples. The composition of diminutives is described in this work. The nouns and adjectives with one diminutive suffix are the most frequently used. Also, the succession of nouns and adjectives and their functions in the text are described. In the internet chat, the usage of diminutives is very varying, that is they are very close to each other or very far from one another. The diminutive nouns and adjectives can perfom (accomplish) all four functions of the text, that is, assessing, revising, relating and aesthetic. Moreover, some instances, where diminutives may be used as different semantic figures, such as comparison, hyperbole, litotes and other, have been found. It’s necessary to mention that diminutives revivify the language. Besides they help us to avoid the repetition of the same words. Moreover the usage of diminutives shows the originality and individuality of the language.

abstract: Extensive cross-linguistic data document a wide gamut of semantic and pragmatic uses of the diminutive that revolve around the fundamental concepts of `small' and `child'. As typical inventory of informal registers, diminutives are utilized as pragmatic markers of politeness in a wide range of contextual meanings. This dissertation is intended to fill some major gaps in the systematic and empirical research on the formation and pragmatic uses of the diminutives in Macedonian and to explore the role of diminutivization in a broader linguistic framework, by examining the consistency of the field of diminutives, the core and peripheral meanings of the diminutive, their typology, as well as their pragmatic potential. The morphology and pragmatics of the diminutive is examined by combining data from electronic and printed sources, video recordings of natural conversations, as well as from material collected from participant and non-participant observations. At the level of morphology, it is argued that three fundamental semantic constraints underlie the formation of diminutives: [-big], [+ emotional], and [+ informal]. Furthermore, it is shown how diminutive combinability is rule governed in Macedonian by proposing sets of formal constraints for all grades of diminutives. At the level of pragmatics, the pragmatic functions of the diminutives proper and the related periphrastic diminutive malku are investigated in a variety of contexts involving child-directed speech (CDS) and adult communication. By analyzing the pragmatic functions of the diminutive in a series of speech acts, and drawing upon cross-cultural interpretations suggested by Wierzbicka (1991), it is argued that, in Macedonian, social bonding, cordiality, intimacy or affection are pragmatically more salient than personal autonomy in the Anglo-Saxon societies, realized through non-imposition, tentativeness, or similar pragmatic strategies for saving face. Additionally, it is contended that there exist cultural differences in the assessment of the concept of imposition between these societies. The analyses of the pragmatic potential of the diminutive proper and the periphrastic diminutive 'malku' give rise to the claim that Macedonian culture is predominantly founded on the pragmatic principle of positive politeness. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2012

Lietuvių šnekamosios kalbos deminutyvai dažniausiai padaromi iš daiktavardžio, kiek rečiau iš būdvardžio ir labai retai iš skaitvardžio. Daiktavardžių ir būdvardžių deminutyvai dažniausiai padaromi prie daiktavardžio / būdvardžio pridėjus bendras – tiek daiktavardžiams, tiek būdvardžiams būdingas - priesagas. Skaitvardžių deminutyvai yra išvedami iš trijų šaknų (milijon-, tūktant-, šimt-) pamatinių žodžių su trimis dažniausiomis šnekamosios kalbos deminutyvinėmis priesagomis ( -ėlis, -ė; -elis, -ė, -(i)ukas, -ė). Mažybiniai maloniniai žodžiai yra vartojami skirtingomis darybos reikšmėmis. Priklausomai nuo to, ką norima išreikšti, su tuo pačiu ar skirtingu afiksu sudaryti vediniai, šnekamojoje kalboje dažniausiai žymi mažumą ir (arba) teigiamą / neigiamą vertinimą. Deminutyvai yra viena ryškiausių šnekamosios kalbos ekspresyvinimo, priemonių, parodančių kalbėtojo santykį su įvardijamu objektų, atskleidžiančių sinonimiškumą, kalbėtojo charakterio savitumą. / In the Lithuanian colloquial language, diminutives are mostly made from nouns, less frequently from adjectives, and rarely from numeral. Diminutives of nouns and adjectives are offen formed from common suffixes. Diminutives of numerals are made from three roots – šimt-, tūkstant-, milijon- and three mostly used suffixes -elis, -ėlis, -(i)ukas. Diminutives are suffixal derivatives and they are used in different meanings of formation. In accordance with to what you want to express using the same or diferent affix, diminutives of colloquial language usually denotes smallness and (or) positive/negative evaluation. Diminutive is one of the most distinct means of expressiveness, which shows the relation between the speaker and named object, reveals synonymy and individuality of speakers character.

D.Litt. et Phil. / In this thesis, the independence of the morphological module of the Greek grammar is supported by way of an example which has often been considered as being mid-way between derivation and inflection: the diminutive suffix. Its problematic nature in most languages has led to various treatments, but previous approaches to the Greek diminutive are rare and far between, and none has dealt with the morphological aspect of the diminutive in a systematic way covering the whole spectrum of such suffixes. This thesis is an attempt to remedy this state of affairs by addressing the problems innate in the structure of the diminutive derivative and its subparts, the base of derivation and the diminutive suffix. The base of diminutive derivation is problematic in that it defies the usual definitions (it is neither solely a stem nor root only, although it can be both). The diminutive suffix has also a problematic nature, exhibiting both derivational (e.g. meaning, syntactic category) and inflectional characteristics (e.g. close system). lt, thus, lends itself to be used as an example of that greater linguistic problem, namely whether inflection should be part of the morphological or the syntactic module of the grammar. The model of grammar used for this study, is a generative approach in the lexicalist spirit. In particular, this theory considers morphemes as the basic morphological atom. They are inserted into the Lexicon, carrying their features (morphosyntactic, phonological, semantic) in the form of feature bundles. Features are represented as attribute-value pairs. Single as well as multiple values for a single feature capture the specificities of a morphologically rich language such as Modem Greek (MG). Morphological structures are represented as binary branching trees, hierarchically constructed, and they are subject to the rules of headedness and feature percolation. Morphology is independent of both syntax and phonology although it interacts with both. The lexicon and a featuretheory module interact with both Morphology and Syntax. The results/benefits of this study are manifold. It is shown that a linguistic theory would be better qualified to address MG if derivation and inflection belong to the same module of the grammar, namely morphology. The role of syntax, where the word is concerned, is relegated to the attribution of certain morphosyntactic feature values in the few cases where morphology fails to do so. The base of diminutive derivation is defined. The diminutive suffix is shown to be derivational rather than inflectional, although possessing inflectional characteristics. Phonological, morphological and semantic aspects of both the derivational base and the suffix, are presented, thus allowing for a clearer view of the Greek diminutive's character.

The goal of my diploma thesis is the detail analysis of the usage of diminutives in the Spanish literature, including the characteristics of their meaning and function. The theoretical part of my thesis is consisted of the basic information concerning this morphological phenomenon and its creation, function and interpretation in the text. It also includes definition of the children´s literature and various views on this subcategory of literature. There is mentioned the history of the children´s literature too, together with its evolution and literary performance. I pay special attention to linguistic features which appear in the children´s literature. The practical part is consisted of the qualitative and quantitative analysis of three books for children: Manolito on the Road, El príncipe que todo lo aprendió en los libros and El Conde Lucanor.The goal of this part of my thesis is the comparison of several linguistic approaches towards this morphological phenomenon. I also aim to determine eventual difference in frequency of using of different types of diminutive suffix, both from the diachronical and differential point of view. Last but not least, there is a qualitative analysis which elaborates individual contextual functions of diminutive suffix.

This diploma thesis deals with diminutives, a special type of words that can express something smaller than usual (i.e. quantitative modification) or the speaker's attitude and feelings (often positive) towards an object or a person (i.e. qualitative modification). In flectional and agglutinant languages (such as Czech and Finnish), diminutives are mostly formed by adding a diminutive suffix to the stem of a base word. This work aims to examine whether Czech diminutives are also translated to Finnish with the use of a diminutive form. If they are not directly translatable, this work is to find out what equivalent does the translator use instead. In the theoretical part, I give a brief description of diminutive suffixes in Czech and Finnish. Most of these suffixes can have more functions than just forming diminutives. Another problem is the process of lexicalisation when a diminutive form acquires a new meaning and becomes a new lexical unit of the language. This means that a selection is needed to be made to exclude words that have a diminutive form but not a diminutive meaning. The practical part is based on an analysis of data from a corpus that contains fifteen Czech books and their translations to Finnish. I selected fifteen frequent diminutives and attempted to find out how they are translated...

Magistro darbo objektas – „Zanavykų šnektos žodyne“ (I tome) užrašyti daiktavardžių ir būdvardžių deminutyvai. Darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti zanavykų šnektoje vartojamus mažybinius maloninius žodžius. Tai pirmasis tyrimas, kuriame analizuojami zanavykų šnektoje vartojami deminutyvai, nagrinėjamas mažybini�� maloninių žodžių vartojimas įvairiose kalbėjimo sutuacijose, stiliaus figūrose, aptariamas sekos ir funkcijų ryšys, tarminės priesagos. / The object of the present master thesis - diminutives of nouns and adjectives, written in „The Dictionary of Zanavykai Dialect��(volume I). The aim of the thesis - to analyse diminutive words of endearment, used in Zanavykai dialect. This appears to be the first research, providing the analysis of diminutives, used in Zanavykai dialect, their usage in various speech situations and figures of style as well as discussions of dialectal suffixes, sequence of diminutives in the text, functions and formational meanings.

This thesis deals with alteration: diminutives and augmentatives in contemporary Italian, and their pragmatic functions. The aim of this thesis is to create a list of diminutives and augmentatives used in Italian fiction. The analysis of expressions is based on the texts contained in InterCorp. The starting point is a theoretical introduction to the word formation with special attention to alterative suffixes in Italian and Czech language, with a partial comparison to Spanish. The thesis also concentrates on hypocorisms, phonological and suffixal restrictions, and lexicalization of alteratives. An integral part is the chapter dedicated to pragmatics, speech acts theory and pragmatic use of alterative suffixes. The results of this thesis represent concrete illustrations for various communication situations documented from corpus.

Key words: diminution, apostrophe, pragmatics, speech situation, linguistic corpora Abstract: This master's thesis deals with pragmatic use of diminutives in French. The theoretical part defines the category of diminutives and possibilities of their classification, in particular with regards to their pragmatic use. Following Dressler-Merlini Barbaresi's model, this thesis accentuates emotional component of diminutives besides the traditional interpretation of dimensional meaning employed in child-centered speech situations, pet-centered speech situations and lover-centered speech situations. The master's thesis focuses on affected apostrophes. Between those hypocorisms in French, besides other forms, one can also find diminutive forms. The language materials for the empirical analysis are subcorpora of film subtitles and fiction in parallel linguistic corpora InterCorp aligned French-Czech. This alignment with Czech language on one hand serves to more efficient search of diminutives in pragmatic speech situations in French, on the other hand it serves to contrastive analysis. We used also monolinguistic corpora FRANTEXT and SYN2015 to demonstrate the frequency of diminutives forms in apostrophe in Czech and French. In the empirical part we analyze which diminutives are employed in those speech situations...