Abstract:
A universal aspect of diminutives is their pragmatic use for softening a speech act.
This function is not strictly limited to morphological diminutives but in principle works for
any linguistic element that conveys a notion of ‘smallness.’ A straightforward example is
when a person asks for a favour of some kind: the chance that the request will be granted
increases if the favour is presented as insignificant.
Diminutives are frequent in situations with children, in the language of love and in
speech directed to pets, and more generally, in situations exhibiting the features ‘non
serious’, ‘empathy’, ‘sympathy’, ‘familiarity’ or ‘intimacy’. With the diminutive we
express our affection or contempt. When it is suggested that women use diminutives more
often than men, social factors are mentioned as an explanation: women are considered to be
more contact-oriented than men, to select friends on the basis of personal experience, and to
attach only secondary importance to motives such as status or professional interest.
