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interesting how the word 'diminutive' refers to making something bigger, isn't it?
Diminutive affixes indicate smallness (and in some languages, connotations of cuteness): e.g., Italian or Spanish -ino, German -chen. Augmentative affixes indicate bigness (and in some languages, pejorative connotations): e.g., Italian -one.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Nobody ever guesses where my handle comes from either. you're a non-aspiring ghost? Clever pun. No The Pook is not a non-aspirant non-aspirated Spook!
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interesting how the word 'diminutive' refers to making something bigger, isn't it?
Diminutive affixes indicate smallness (and in some languages, connotations of cuteness): e.g., Italian or Spanish -ino, German -chen. Augmentative affixes indicate bigness (and in some languages, pejorative connotations): e.g., Italian -one. Yes, that's interesting. Or like -shka -ski etc in Slavic languages. The point I was making was that a 'diminutive' denotes not just the affix itself, but the resulting word, which is bigger than the word was before the affix was affixed. As in "Pookaroonie is a diminutive of Pook." It's an example of definition by usage. A diminutive has come to mean an affectionate nickname or something similar. Regarding affixes and suffixes, I was always taught that an affix was a prefix and therefore the opposite of a suffix, which is added to the end of a word. But looking at the nearest dictionary to hand it seems that a prefix or a suffix is merely a subset of an affix, which is the term used to describe any addition to a word? How do others use those terms? And if this is so, does an affix include letters added in the middle of a word? Which would be called what? An infix? This is getting too far off topic, so I have reposted it in the Wordplay and Fun section - perhaps best to reply there - sorry for hijacking the music question.
Last edited by The Pook; 02/23/08 01:11 AM.
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The Pook
I thought your nom-de-ouaibbe had something more to do with Puck or Pooka (Irish Púca), Kipling even, but then I am know to let my fancy fun away with my diminutive wit.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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diminutive wit As in, half-? [EG]
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Pooh-Bah
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...I'm THE Pook ... like Winnie THE Pooh, but you can call me that if you like, I don't mind. OK! "THE POOH" it is.
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The point I was making was that a 'diminutive' denotes not just the affix itself, but the resulting word, which is bigger than the word was before the affix was affixed.
Yes, affixes are one way that (inflectional) languages go about created new words from old ones. In linguistics this is usually called derivational morphology to keep it separate from desinences which usually indicate case, number, gender, and other grammatical categories. The diminutive refers not to the affix or the word, but usually the referent.
An infix?
There are circumfixes, too.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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As in, half-?
Not quite synonymous, but that's kinda what.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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The Pook
I thought your nom-de-ouaibbe had something more to do with Puck or Pooka (Irish Púca), Kipling even, but then I am know to let my fancy fun away with my diminutive wit. hahahahaha. I'm having fun with this. The real reason I am The Pook is much more mundane and unguessable than this. um... Pardon MY diminutive wit, but what's a nom-de-ouaibbe? Never heard of a ouaibbe, but then I don't speak French.
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