Noun Diminutive Forms

J.      Noun Diminutive Forms

•      In English six diminutive suffixes can be found.

•      They are morphemes that convey a meaning of smallness or endearment or both.

•      They are:

1.                  -ie, -i, -y

2.                  -ette

3.                  -kin, -ikini, -kins

4.                  -ling

5.                  -et

6.                  -let

• The vowels of these diminutive suffixes are three front vowels /i/, /Ι/, and /ε/.

         i. The first suffix /i/ is highly productive. It is frequently attached to one syllable first names to suggest endearment and intimacy or smallness as in Johnny, Jamey, Jackie.

Similarly, it is attached to common nouns, sometimes indicating a diminutive notion about a participant in a discourse more than about one person or thing being referred to, as in doggie, sweetie, birdie, or mommy.

      Examples:

a.      SUFFIX  -ie

Ø  Auntie

Ø  Sweetie

Ø  Jackie

b.      SUFFIX  -y

Ø  Janey

Ø  Mickey

Ø  Mikey

Ø  Johnny

Ø  Betty

          ii. The second suffix is also in active use, generally to indicate smallness. Thus, a dinette/daɪnεt/ is a small dining area.

          iii. The other four diminutive suffixes exist in the language as diminutive but are rarely if ever added to new nouns.

          iv. In short, they are unproductive and inactive.

           v. Furthermore, in some words, such as cabinet /kæbənɪt/and toilet /tɔɪlɪt/, the meaning of the diminutive suffix has faded away to little or no significance.

      Examples:

      SUFFIX          DIMINUTIVE NOUN

          -ette              roomette              

           -kin               lambkin

           -kins             babykins

           -ling             duckling
           -et           circlet

           -let               starlet

•  In addition to these six diminutives, many others have come into English as a part of borrowed words.
• These are diminutives in their own or parent language but are nonmorphemic in English
• Most of these borrowed diminutive endings contain the vowels /i/, /Ι/, and /ɛ/, though these vowels have often reduced to /ǝ/ in English because of lack of stress.
• Nearly, all these suffixes have lost the diminutive sense that was once alive in them.

Examples:

Ø  Mosquito

Ø  puppet

Ø  Pupil

Ø  Novel

Ø  Muscle

Ø  Particle

Ø  Formula

Source:

Stageberg, Norman C. and Dallin D. Oaks (2000). An Introductory English Grammar , Heinle, Boston:USA.

LANE 333 - Noun Feminine Forms

I.     Noun Feminine Forms

• English has about 50 pairs of words with separate forms for the masculine and the  feminine, e.g., bull/cow, uncle/aunt, but this is a matter of lexicography not morphology.
•  English has a small group of nouns with feminine derivational suffixes.
• Most of these feminizing suffixes are of foreign origin except the feminizing suffix (-ster) as in spinner/spinster.
• They have been added to a masculine form or to a base morpheme.
• Examples are illustrated as follows:

SUFFIX                            MASCULINE                    FEMININE

1.         -e                                     fiancé                                fiancée

2.         -enne                               comedian                         comedienne

3.         -ess                                  patron                              patroness

4.         -etta                                Henry                               Henrietta

5.         -ette                                usher                                 usherette

6.         -euse                               masseur                             masseuse

7.         -ina                                 George                              Georgina

8.         -ine                                 hero                                    heroine

9.         -ster                               spinner                               spinster

10.       -stress                           seamster                             seamstress

11.        -ix                                 aviator                                aviatrix

The Status of Feminine Derivational Suffixes:

            SUFFIXES                                       STATUS

·                 -ess                                     The most common and productive

·                 -stress                                  Completely dead

·                 -enne & -euse                      in words borrowed from French

·                 -e                                         French & is merely orthographic

·                 -ster                                     No longer a feminizing suffix

Note:

Sometimes the -ess has been added to a word already feminine by the ending -ster; as seam-str-ess, song-str-ess. The ending -ster had then lost its force as a feminine suffix; it has none now in the words huckster, gamester, trickster, punster.

The widely used:

The feminine suffix –ess is the most common and productive one. The ending -ess is added to many words without changing the ending of the masculine as in:

• baron—baroness
• count—countess
• lion—lioness
• Jew—Jewess
• heir—heiress
• host—hostess
• priest—priestess
• giant—giantess
• prince—princess

The masculine ending may be dropped before the feminine -ess is added as in:

• adulterer — adulteress
• murderer—murderess

The feminine form may drop a vowel which appears in the masculine as in:

• waiter—waitress
• actor—actress
• master—mistress
• emperor—empress
• tiger—tigress

Some words ending in -ess are no longer used. Examples are: authoress and poetess. Author and poet are now used for both men and women. The words steward and stewardess are being replaced by other terms like flight attendant and that can be a man or a woman.

We frequently use such words as author, editor, chairman, to represent either gender.

Source:

Stageberg, Norman C. and Dallin D. Oaks (2000). An Introductory English Grammar , Heinle, Boston:USA.