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Diminutive

MORPHOLOGY: a term for a special type of nouns the meaning of which can be characterized as SMALL N (where N is the predicate denoted by the noun). EXAMPLE: Dutch diminutives are formed by adding one of the allomorphs of the suffix -tje (viz. -pje, -kje, -etje, -je, -tje) to nouns. (i) gives a number of relevant examples:

(i) raam	'window'	raam-pje	'small window'
    koning	'king'		koning-kje	'small king'
    pan		'pan'		pann-etje	'small pan'
    hok		'cage'		hok-je		'small cage'
    baan	'job'		baan-tje	'small job'

LIT. Katamba, F. (1989)
Zonneveld, W. & M. Trommelen (1980)