TNTL 113

Peter Bakema

Het onvoltooid verleden verkleinwoord

Abstract - On the basis of a coherent corpus of literary texts, diminutives in Middle Dutch are analysed for several aspects. First, it is shown that suffixation with -kijn is the central process to create diminutives. Second, most diminutives are derived from nouns, although not to the complete exclusion of other bases. Third, diminutives constitute a polysemous category, in which evaluative shades are most salient. Fourth, diminutives appear especially in informal, non-serious texts: in farces and fabliaux they are often used ironically. These four domains of prototypicality are also relevant for diminutives in modern Dutch, which are created by suffixation with -tje.