INSTANTIAL COMULATIVE USE: THE POTENTIAL OF THE DIMINUTIVE IN ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY
- 1. Student of the Faculty of Foreign Philology of Termez State University
Description
Reiteration of a PU or its parts organised consecutively is not the only technique of cohesion and enhancement. A cumulative concatenation of instantial items in linear sequence may also achieve a cumulative effect by successive reiterations of the same single pattern of instantial use over a larger stretch of discourse. The Stylistic effect keeps increasing steadily in quantity, degree, or rate of development, augmenting by successive additions. Incremental use of one stylistic element gains a cumulative momentum of its own. Let me explore the cumulative potential of one instantial element on the basis of the diminutive in English phraseology. In order to be able to draw inferences or make judgements about instantial use of the diminutive in phraseology, It is essential to have a clear understanding of the linguistic character of this phenomenon.
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- 1.Cf.: the Latvian language can boast a wealth of diminutive suffixes in the lexical system of Language (Endzelīns 1951; Rūķe-Draviņa 1959Rozenbergs 1983; Veisbergs 1997a: 135–137), and the morphological way of forming diminutive constituents is widespread in Latvian phraseology, too. For a comparison of diminutive formation in English and Latvian phraseology, see Naciscione (1995). Some examples of Latvian Pus with diminutive constituents are: ķerties pie salmiņa; izmirkt līdz pēdējai vīlītei; kad zaķītis rikšus tecēs; rauj viņu kociņš!; dzimis laimes Krekliņā; dzīvo ka divi balodīši; prātiņ, nāc mājās; slaida kā smildziņa; sešu dēļu mājiņa; kurš putniņš agri ceļas, agri slauka deguntiņu; nieciņš ar nieciņu iztaisa sieciņu; kāds podiņš, tāds vāciņš. The diminutive is also productive in some other languages, e.g., Italian and Spanish. See Taylor ([1989] 1995: 144–148) for diminutivised forms in Italian.
- 2.For use of diminutives in lexical endearments in English, see Mills (1995: 116–117).
- 3.As a synthetic language, Old English had a whole list of diminutive suffixes. Chambers Etymological Dictionary of the English Language(1882: 576–578)registers 13 diminutive suffixes; Nesfield (1924: 136) gives14.
- 4.Cf.: the role of diminutives as a derivational tool in the lexical system. Diminutive suffixes may be used to create new lexical items. This process is fairly common in Latvian, e.g., zīle (an acorn) – (acu) zīlīte (the pupil of an eye); lāpsta (a spade) – (plecu) lāpstiņa (a shoulder blade). This process is a rare phenomenon in English, e.g., an eye – an eyelet, a bird – a birdie (in golf), a vein – a veinlet, or a plate – a (blood) platelet which is not a small plate, but a medical term, meaning a thrombocyte (see MWCD 1996). It also has further derivation by compounding, e.g., plateletpheresis. Interestingly, derivation of new words by a diminutive suffix usually occurs in terms. Semantic specialisation may be considerable, e.g., a tumourlet has a different meaning from a tumour, although both are medical terms (DPMD 1995).
- 5.The example is taken from Bryan (2001: 36).
- 6.Dicky bird/dickybird/dicky – a small bird (used esp. by or to children) (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 1978: 302).
- 7.From Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.