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English diminutives are very rudimentary and irregular compared to inflected languages. In some language you can form several levels of diminutives from any no
by ajuc 8y ago
English diminutives are very rudimentary and irregular compared to inflected languages.
In some language you can form several levels of diminutives from any noun. Even stuff that makes no sense, like "cute taxes", "cute death", "cute abstraction", "cute declension".
And you can form the opposite - take a noun and create less cute/uglier/larger version of it.
And these additional forms still obey the other rules, including declension. So there's a combinatorial explosion of versions of each word.
- Udik 8y ago> Even stuff that makes no sense, like "cute taxes", "cute death", "cute abstraction" A cute abstraction would definitely be my thing. As we would say in Italian, an astrazioncella, or astrazionuccia, or astrazioncelluccia, or astrazioncinuccia, or astrazioncinelluccia. :)
- r-bryan 8y agoWhen learning some Italian I was both dismayed and fascinated to discover that it was necessary to avoid every diminutive ("cute") and augmentative I could think of, because they all carry sexual innuendo.
- Udik 8y ago> they all carry sexual innuendo They don't. Your teacher was a pervert. :)
- ajuc 8y agoAbstrakcja, abstrakcyjka, abstrakcyjeczka, abstrakcyjunia, abstrakcyjeczunia, ... :)
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- valiant-comma 8y agoThe Russian word vodka is a diminutive form of voda (water) — in essence, vodka is “cute water”.
- ajuc 8y agoyep, same in Polish. Woda, wódka, wódeczka, wódzia, wódziunia. and then if you don't like drinking you can go the other way: wódka, wóda, wódzicha.