Naslov
Diminutives in Action: A cognitive account of diminutive verbs in Croatian

Autori
Katunar, Daniela

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Slavic Cognitive Linguistic Conference 2012

Mjesto i datum
Zagreb, Hrvatska, 27.09.2012. - 29.09.2012

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
diminutive verbs, suffixation, radial category, pluractionality, Croatian language

Sažetak
The category of diminutives cross-cuts various word classes in many languages (e.g. nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs), though most descriptions focus almost exclusively on nominal diminutives (see Dressler and Merlini Barbaresi 1994, Jurafsky 1996). In Croatian, diminutive verbs form a numerous and productive subset of verbs with various meaning extensions formed by suffixation and prefixation (e.g. gleduckati ‘to watch unattentively’, piskarati ‘to write badly’, lupnuti ’to hit lightly’, poigrati se ‘to play around (a little)’), and some authors mention their existence in other Slavic languages as well (see Panocová 2011). In his study on the universal tendencies of the semantics of the diminutive, Jurafsky (1996) provides a semantic model based on the notion of radial structure (Lakoff 1987), in which various meanings of diminutives (such as approximation, pejorative meaning etc.) can be deduced from the source meaning ‘small’ via metonymic or metaphorical extensions. Jurafsky’s analysis, however, seems rather problematic as the basis of a comprehensive account of the meanings of diminutive verbs. Namely, the question that arises is what would the concept ‘small’ or ‘reduced in size’ refer to when applied to diminutive verbs, which refer to actions and not objects. As the Croatian data will show, a much more viable source meaning of diminutive verbs would be that of ‘less intensity’, which can be appropriated to classify the various meanings of verbs such as a) less attentive actions, e.g. čituckati =to read lightly, gleduckati = to watch unanttentively, b) iterative actions, e.g. skuakutati = to hop (in small jumps), c) dispersive actions, e.g. šetuckati = ‘to stroll around (no specific direction) and d) pejorative actions, e.g. piskarati ‘to write badly’ in terms of a radial structure motivated by metonymic and metaphorical extensions. Furthermore, diminutive verbs in Croatian also interact with notions of perfectivity, pluractionality and iterativity in specific ways (e.g. lupnuti ’to hit lightly - PERF’ / lupkati ‘to hit lightly and repeatedly - IMPERF’), pointing to the fact that diminutive verb morphology has consequences with respect to their aspectual and telic characteristics (see also Tovena 2011), often resulting in a blend having both diminutive and grammatical properties (e.g. suffix –nu- has a perfective and diminutive meaning, for example gutati ‘to swallow – IMPERF.’ / gucnuti ‘to take a small sip – PERF.’). We will show how these grammatical notions necessitate a reinterpretation of the diminutive meaning in terms of the grammatical properties inherent to verbs. Thus the main goal of this paper is to provide a semantic classification of diminutive verbs within a cognitive linguistics framework which will take into account a) the polysemous structures formed by the diminutive verbs with respect to the underlying conceptualization patterns, b) their interaction with the traditionally grammatical notions of perfectivity, pluractionality and iterativity. Such a classification does not exist for diminutive verbs, and we believe it provides a model for the analysis of diminutive verbs in other Slavic languages and can be used to revise a general model of the semantics of diminutives. Conversely, the analysis of diminutive verbs provides new insight on the role metonymy and metaphor play in word formation as well as their influence in terms of the interplay between semantic and grammatical categories.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

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