A comparative study of diminutive forms in English and Kurdish

Abstract EN

Knowing a language means knowing the morphemes of that language, which are the elemental units that constitute words of that language .Diminutives occur throughout the world‟s languages, more often in order to represent typically smallness, slightness, affection intimacy, endearment and even derogation.

Diminutives are mainly formed by attaching suffixes to a base.

It is hypothesized that speakers and users are dissimilar in using their diminutives in their daily chit-chats owing to their age, gender, culture, and occupation.

Accordingly, they face difficulty in forming diminutives since they are under the impact of various borrowing suffixes found in English .Thus, one expects that this study will be rather beneficial for their users depending on specific interplay of linguistic and situational factors found in given contexts of both languages.

This paper deals with the diminutive forms in English and Kurdish as far as form, morphological process and parts of speech are concerned.

It also sheds some light on the meanings of these forms in both languages when necessary.

It has been observed that the two languages are similar to some extent concerning the class forms and meanings of such forms since both are related to Indo-European languages.

Basically, both languages use suffixation and prefixation in the process of noun formation.

However, we (as native speakers) expect that Kurdish diminutive suffixes are greater in number if compared to English