Change in meaning with no change in category
Many languages have DIMINUTIVE affixes which attach to noun stems to indicate smallness. German has several diminutive suffixes, e.g.–lein as in Buch ‘book,’ Büchlein ‘booklet’; fisch ‘fish,’ fischlein ‘little fish’; Bach ‘stream,’ Bächlein ‘streamlet, brooklet.’ The most productive diminutive is-chen, as in Haus ‘house,’ Häuschen ‘cottage, outhouse’; Teil ‘part,’ Teilchen ‘particle’; Horn ‘horn,’ Hörnchen ‘little horn, croissant.’ With some roots either suffix is possible, e.g. Nagel ‘nail,’ Nägelchen or Näglein ‘tack’; Vogel ‘bird,’ Vögelchen or Vöglein ‘little bird.’ Diminutives are often used to indicate affection, rather than small size, as in Frau ‘woman, wife,’Frauchen‘ dear wife’; Hut‘hat,’ Hütchen ‘pretty hat’; Hund ‘dog,’ Hündchen ‘nice dog’ (cf. Hündlein ‘little dog’).1
Portuguese has both diminutive and AUGMENTATIVE suffixes. The most common diminutive suffix is–inho (feminine form–inha), as in flor ‘flower,’ florzinha ‘little flower’; bandeira ‘flag,’ bandeirinha ‘pennant’; cafe̒ ‘coffee,’ caf`ezinho ‘small cup of strong, sweet coffee’; and the two famous members of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup champion team, Ronaldo ‘Ronald’ and Ronaldinho ‘little Ronnie.’ The most common augmenta tive suffix is–ão (feminine form–ona), as in sapato ‘shoe,’ sapatão ‘big shoe’; mulher ‘woman,’ mulherona ‘big woman’; caixa ‘box,’ caixão ‘big box, coffin’; casa ‘house,’ casarão ‘big house.’ The diminutive suffix can be added to both nouns and adjectives to express affection, tenderness, or admiration (e.g. bonita ‘pretty,’ bonitinha ‘very pretty’), while the augmentative suffix may be used with comic or contemptuous intent.2 In all of these uses, the category of the base form remains unchanged.
In Muna (Malayo-Polynesian; Sulawesi, Indonesia) the diminutive meaning is expressed by adding a prefix ka- plus reduplication: kontu ‘stone,’ ka-kontu-kontu ‘small stone’; wale ‘hut,’ ka-wale-wale ‘small hut’; tomba ‘basket,’ ka-tomba-tomba ‘small basket’; kabhawo ‘mountain,’ ka-kabha kabhawo ‘hill.’3
Another example of an affix which changes meaning without changing the category of the base form is the English prefix re-. This prefix attaches to a verb meaning ‘to do X’ and produces a new verb meaning ‘to do X again.’ Examples include: re-state, re-position, re-consider, re-align, re-calibrate, re-negotiate, re-open, re-appear, re-apply (for a job), re-hire, re-capture, re-tune (e.g. a guitar), etc.4 A similar example in English is the prefix mis-, meaning ‘to do wrongly.’ Examples include: mis-represent, mis-state, mis-calculate, mis-interpret, mis-use, mis-handle, etc.
The prefix un- has two different uses in English, both involving a kind of negation. It can attach to adjectives meaning ‘X’ to produce new adjectives meaning ‘not X,’ or more precisely ‘the opposite of X’ (un-happy, un-lucky, un-clear, un-welcome, un-well, un-likely, un-tidy, un-certain, un-sympathetic, etc.). It can also attach to verbs meaning ‘Y’ to produce new verbs meaning ‘reverse the process or undo the effect of Y-ing’ (un-zip, un-tie, un-wrap, un-seat, un-leash, un-dress, un-ravel, un-load, etc.).
Notice that the prefixes re- and mis- preserve the argument structure and subcategorization of the base form. The derived verb re-appear is intransitive because the base form appear is intransitive. The derived verb mis-interpret is transitive because the base form interpret is transitive.5 We will discuss a very important class of verbal affixes, found in a wide range of languages, which do change argument structure and/or subcategorization. Some of these “valence-changing operations” are clearly derivational, e.g. CAUSATIVES (in most languages). But others are difficult to classify as either inflectional or derivational, having some properties of each type.
1. Curme (1922/1952:411).
2. Sa̒ Pereira (1948:195).
3. See Non-linear morphology for a discussion of reduplication. Muna data is taken from van den Berg (1989).
4. Notice that this prefix gets a secondary stress, which helps to distinguish between the words rè-co̒ver (e.g. put a new cover on a book or chair) and reco̒ver ‘to get something back.’
5. The same basic pattern holds for verbal un- as well, except that derived forms like untie and unwrap do not normally take an instrument even though the base forms tie and wrap do.
