Just small or small and related

On two kinds of diminutives in Serbo-Croatian

Marko Simonović & Boban Arsenijević

A similar case: Hungarian DIMs

(Rebrus & Szigetvári 2015) show how diminutives are exceptional among derivations in that they do not respect ‘harmonic stability’ (the harmonic class of the stem stays the same when harmony-neutral suffixes are added). Rather: “the harmonic class of these DIM forms is identical to the harmonic class of the monomorphemic stems of the same form”.

A similar case: Hungarian DIMs

Hungarian DIMs behave as monomorphemic stems. Explanation proposed by R&S (part 3/3):“DIM forms often undergo lexicalization: the semantic link between the morphological base and its DIM form is often obscured.”

Diminutives do not seem to be very diminutive?

● R&S occasionally refer to the DIMs as ‘diminutive/hypocoristic’ and show many cases of lexicalised DIMs.

● In the literature on various languages (English, Dutch, Slovak, Serbo-Croatian) there are multiple references to ‘frozen diminutives’.

● In most references, it is implied that in ‘frozen’ diminutives the once existing purely diminutive meaning is obscured.

Our perspective

● It seems that (in at least Hungarian, Dutch and Serbo-Croatian) the real diminutive meaning (“small X”) is entangled with the hypocoristic meaning (“dear X”) and a range of other specific meanings.

● This leaves the forms with productive ‘DIM’ suffixes lingering between transparency and lexicalisation.

● A tendency for a ‘DIM’-specific behaviour emerges.

What is ‘DIM’-specific in S-C?

The ‘DIM’-specific suffixes -ica and -ić display extremely variable prosody, to the extent that it is hard to determine their underlying representation.They occur as● either dominant or recessive and● either carrying a vowel length or no length,all depending on the context in which they surface.

S-C prosody: two accents

Falling● both stress and high tone on the same syllable ● restricted to the first syllable● usually assumed to be post-lexical, so the words

displaying it are toneless at a deeper level

lInč “lynch”, škOOla ‘school’, lAjkovati ‘to like (on Facebook)’

S-C prosody: two accents

Rising● span: high tone on two syllables● stress on the leftmost syllable● original high tone (sponsor) on the rightmost● in this presentation we underline the sponsor H

nutElA ‘nutella’, cigAArA ‘cigar’, hAmbUrger ‘hamburger’

Serbo-Croatian -ica-diminutives

The suffix combines productively with predominantly feminine bases in -a and displays 4 different prosodic patterns:1) Recessive the prosody of the base is copied:sUp-a ‘soup’ sUp-icaškOOl-a ‘school’ škOOl-icakAf-A ‘coffee’ kAf-IcazAAr-A ‘a Zara shop’ zAAr-Ica

Serbo-Croatian -ica-diminutives

2) Imposing its own H (resulting in a rising span over i and the stem-final syllable):škOOl-a ‘school’ škOl-IcastrEEl-A ‘arrow’ strEl-IcašOOlj-A ‘mug’ šOlj-IcadEvOOjk-a ‘house’ devOjč-Ica

Serbo-Croatian -ica-diminutives

3) Long rising imposed by the suffix:pAprIka ‘shirt’ paprič-IIcA rAkIja ‘rakija’ rakij-IIcAmašIInA ‘machine’ mašin-IIcAkUUrva ‘whore’ kurv-IIcA

-ica-diminutives: Type 4

4) Short falling pattern (deaccentuation):jEEl-A ‘Jela’ jEl-ica ‘Jelica’drAAg-a ‘Draga’ drAg-ica ‘Dragica’jOOv-A ‘Ivo’ jOv-ica ‘Ivica’

Minimal pairs type 1 vs. 2

base t1 t2škOOl-a škOOl-ica škOl-Ica‘school’ ‘school-DIM/HIP’ ‘hopscotch’pAhUlja pAhUlj-ica pahU-ljIca‘flake’ ‘flake-DIM/HIP’ ‘cereal fl.’

Minimal pairs type 1 vs. 3base t1 t3pAprIk-a pAprIč-ica paprič-IIcA‘pepper’ ‘pepper-DIM/HIP’ ‘chilly pepper’

(+nice, +home)kafAn-A kafAn-Ica kafan-IIcA‘restaurant’ ‘restaurant-DIM/HIP’ ‘restaurant’

(+nice, +cozy) kUUrv-a kUUrv-ica kurv-IIcA‘whore’ ‘whore-DIM’ ‘whore’ (+ not judging)

Minimal pairs type 1 vs. 4

base t1 t4jEEl-A jEEl-Ica jEl-ica ‘Jela’ ‘Jela-DIM/HIP’ ‘Jelica’

drAAg-a drAAg-a drAg-ica ‘Draga’ ‘Draga-DIM/HIP’ ‘Dragica’

Serbo-Croatian -ica-diminutivesTransparent meaning

Lexicalisedmeaning

1) recessive ✔ ✔

2) own H (short) (✔) ✔

3) own H + length

✗ ✔

4) deaccented ✗ ✔✔

Serbo-Croatian -ica-diminutivesMeaning constraint Prosodic constraint

1) recessive ✗ ✗

2) own H (short)

typically lexicalised output

monosyllabic bases (all but 2)

3) own H + length

colloquial, intimate, lexicalised output

disyllabic bases (all but 1)

4) deaccent’d only names only CVC bases

Intermezzo: on -IIcA

Simonović & Arsenijević (2014) argue independently that the pattern encountered in papričIIcA should be analysed as post-lexical in cases where there is pre-final length.So, papričIIcA can be analysed as /paprič+iica/.

So what is the UR of -ica?

In principle, it is /ica/, but it can also:a. grow and impose a dominant H: type 2bOOmb(+a) + ica → bOmbIcagrow and impose a length + deaccentuation: type 3pAprIk(+a) + ica → papričIIcAimpose deaccentuation: type 4jEEl(+A) + ica → jElica

But why?

● The diminutive suffix is super-productive, with relatively unstable meaning.

● This makes it particularly open for lexicalisation.● Under lexicalisation, various prosodic patterns can

arise.● These prosodic patterns can group some of the

lexicalised items together, which can lead to prosodic patterns becoming meaningful.

So just small or small and related?

A modern learner is better off assuming that -ica-derivations are just related to the base. Prosodic faithfullness to the base signals membership in the paradigm of the stem and transparent interpretation, hence the availability of the diminutive interpretation too.Other prosodic patterns signal departure from the paradigm of the base, potentially also the type of semantic shift induced by lexicalisation.

Thanks!b.arsenijevic@gmail.comrkicma@gmail.com

ReferencesPéter Rebrus & Péter Szigetvári. 2015. Diminutives: exceptions to the exceptions. Paper presented at the Old World Conference in Phonology 12, Barcelona, 27 January 2015.

Simonovic, Marko & Boban Arsenijevic. 2014. Regular and honorary membership: On two kinds of deverbal nouns in Serbo-Croatian. Lingua e linguaggio 13.2: 185-210.