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    -DIM (diminutive)
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    The main function of attaching the diminutive suffix -DIM is to indicate something small. It is very productively attached to count nouns. There are three allomorphs: -tsje, -ke and -je, with is a complementary distribution between them, dependent on the final segment of the base. Certain phonological adjustments may be needed in order to obtain a correct output form. A final schwa, for example, is deleted before the correct allomorph is selected. Hence, we have skoaltsje small school, from the noun skoalle school. In addition to denoting something small, many derivations may have an affective (pejorative or meliorative) connotation. Moreover, in a small group of bird names the diminutive has the function of indicating the female bird. The diminutive suffix spread to other lexical categories as well, although not productively. The most important ones are mass nouns, verbs and adjectives. In these categories, diminuation primarily functions as a means to transpose the base to a count noun. Personal names may also have a diminutive form. The overall pattern applies to this category, too, but on the other hand it has its own characteristics, formally and funcionally.

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    [+]Overview

    The diminutive suffix, abbreviated as -DIM, derives nouns with neuter gender, i.e. they are accompanied by the definite article it. This is also the case if the base noun has common gender. For example, we speak of de beam the.C tree.C the tree, but with the diminutive suffix it turns into it beamke the.N tree-DIM the small tree.

    The suffix is attached primarily to nouns. In the treatment below, an overview of derivations with a noun as base will be given first. Separate sections are devoted to the three allomorphs and their distribution, and to various phonological adjustments needed in order to create a correct output. The semantic and pragmatic aspects of the formations call for separate attention, as do formations that have become lexicalized. Moreover, we will dwell briefly on the peripheral dialects of Hindeloopen and the islands of Terschelling and Schiermonnikoog, which developed their own diminutive systems.

    Like more very productive suffixes, -DIM can be attached to other base categories as well. Separate sections are devoted to verbs, adjectives, adverbs, numerals, pronouns and personal names. This topic on the diminutive closes with a short discussion of the morphological potentials of -DIM, and a characterization of the most important literature.

    [+]Noun as base

    The natural habitat of the diminutive is in the context of nouns, where it is very productive, indeed. In principle, it then denotes a small variant of the base noun. Thus a noaske is a small noas nose. The suffix is primarily attached to count nouns, and the result is also a count noun. As a consequence of this restriction, a noun like for example Kristendom Christianity cannot be followed by a diminutive suffix: *Kristendomke small Christianity.

    There are, however, a few exceptions. Inherently countable measure nouns,, often resist diminuation. Examples like *wykje (from wike week), *kearke (from kear time, turn), or *mingeltsje (from mingel litre) are notably bad. Only measure nouns that invoke an affective connotation can be diminuated, like ûnske (from ûns ounce) or kertierke (from kertier quarter of an hour).

    On the other hand, diminuation in the realm of mass nouns is not fully excluded, although the process is not productive. The semantic function is individuation; the diminutive form creates a unit of the material denoted by the base word, in other words, it forces the mass noun to transpose to a count noun. Examples are gerske grass-stalk (from gers grass), sûkelaatsje piece of chocolate (from sûkelade chocolate) and arkje tool (from ark equipment). On could argue that such formations are parasitic on standard diminutive formation, which operates on count nouns as a base. As will be shown in the section on non-nominal bases, diminutives with non-nominal bases show a similar behaviour. In all of such cases, diminutive formation is not productive. For example, from molke milk one cannot form *molkje. (Another means of creating of count nouns from mass nouns is to change gender; more information can be found in this table in the topic on Gender).

    [+]Allomorphs

    The diminutive suffix manifests itself in three different shapes: as -tsje, -ke or -je, depending on the final segment of the base form to which suffix is attached. Synchronically these variants are not phonologically derivable from each other. To refer to the diminutive in general, the shorthand -DIM is used.

    The suffix -tsje, pronounced as [tsjə], follows the dentals /d/, /l/, /n/ and /t/. Examples are:

    Table 1
    Base Derivation
    hoed hat huodsje small hat
    bal ball baltsje small ball
    hân hand hantsje small hand
    rôt rat rotsje small rat
    Note that in the orthography one sees <sje> after stems ending in d or t. Superficially, this might lead to an option for a further variant -sje. However, this is not desirable in the light of a description that is as general as possible. It can be argued on phonological grounds that the initial [t] of the suffix -tsje merged with the final phonetic [t] of stems ending in /t/ or /d/ (the latter becoming [t] by final devoicing). Hence, this could be a case of degemination).

    The suffix -je [jə] follows base forms ending in the velar segments /x/, /ɣ/, /k/ and /ŋ/. Examples are:

    Table 2
    Base Derivation
    eunuch eunuch eunuchje small eunuch
    laach /la:ɣ/ layer laachje thin layer
    dak roof dakje small roof
    ring /rIŋ/ ring rinkje small ring

    After /ŋ/ we see insertion of /k/ (see also diminutive formation in Frisian Phonology). Examples are wang [vaŋ] cheek > wankje [vaŋkjə] small cheek and ding [dɪŋ] thing > dinkje [dɪŋkjə] small thing. This k-insertion can also be noticed with the suffix -lik.

    The suffix -ke [kə] is to be found in the rest of the cases, i.e. after (semi-)vowels, labials or labiodentals, and after the dentals /s/, /z/ and /r/. Here are some examples:

    Table 3
    Base Derivation
    kafee /kafe:/ café kafeeke small café
    triuw /trjo:w/ push triuwke subtle push
    aai /a:j/ egg aike small egg
    kraab [kra:b] crab krabke small crab
    aap monkey aapke small monkey
    beam tree beamke small tree
    siraf /siraf/ giraffe sirafke small giraffe
    skúf /sky:v/ bolt skúfke small bolt
    jas /jɔs/ coat jaske jacket
    faas /fa:z/ vase faaske small vase
    toer tower tuorke small tower
    extra
    Dutch influence

    The suffixes -je and -tsje can also be found in Dutch, although the latter without the sibilant, hence as -tje. However, -ke is exclusively Frisian. Now, apparently under the influence of Dutch, quite a number of Frisian speakers start to replace -ke by the suffix -tsje in those cases where the Dutch cognate word has -tje. Hence, we see this replacement especially after vocalic stems and after /r/. Examples are bijtsje instead of bijke (from bij bee) and fingertsje instead of fingerke (from finger finger). After the other stems, Dutch does not have -tje, and here Frisian original -ke stands its ground better, although formations like bedriuwtsje small company (from bedriuw company), with a stem ending in a vocalic element, have nevertheless been attested. All in all, the process can probably best be interpreted as an internal Frisian change, which, however, is supported by Dutch. This is confirmed by a questionnaire (Van der Veen (1984, question 2)), where the nonsense words splaa and splea received almost twice as many responses with -tsje than with -ke.

    In a few lexicalized cases, a variant with the "Dutch" suffix -tsje has, so to say, already won the battle. Examples are nijtsje piece of news and sjoutsje temporary job, which seem to be translated directly from Dutch nieuwtje and sjouwtje. It must be noted, however, that these words have partly opaque meanings. Moreover, they are special in as far their bases are not nominal but adjectival (nij new) and verbal (sjouwe to drag), respectively.

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    Historical note

    The allomorph -ke was more widespread in the past than it is today. In the Middle Frisian period (1550-1800), it could also be found after the dentals /t/, /d/, /n/ and /l/. The suffix sometimes survived in these contexts in poetry, to create an atmosphere of tenderness. According to Versloot (2004), an ending -elke was used after /t/ and /k/, possibly to be analysed as the diminutive allomorph -ke plus a linking element -el-.

    The ending -ke occurred in Old Frisian already. Examples are madeke maggot, honeke cock or tjaderke redshank. Apparently, there was no deletion of a final vowel of the stem in those days. A major difference with the current system was its transparency: the gender of the diminutive was the same as the gender of the stem. Several Old Frisian diminutives became fossilized; the ending, sometimes palatalized to -ts, became part of the stem, and the word did not act as a diminutive any longer. In this way, the Old Frisian examples mentioned above have been evolved in present-day language to maits, hoants ruff (Calidrix pugnax) and tjirk, respectively. Note also the semantic specialization in hoants. Another example is modern Frisian pylk arrow, which likewise has common gender (cf. Dutch pijl, German Pfeile). The old diminutive ending being part of the stem, these words can diminuated anew, for example as tjirkje small redshank.

    Even more remnants of old diminutives can be found in East and North Frisian dialects (on this subject: Hofmann (1961)). These branches of Frisian did not develop a new productive diminutive system, however.

    [+]Phonological adjustments

    We saw above that an additional phonological operation may be necessary in diminutive formation in order to obtain the right output, such as degemination after stems ending in [t] and the insertion of /k/ between /ŋ/ and je-. These are, however, not the only adjustments.

    First and foremost it appears that the final schwa of many Frisian nouns is deleted. Take the noun panne pan. If the final schwa remained, one would predict a diminutive *panneke. The correct form, however, is pantsje. This is obtained by truncating the schwa (panne > pan), and then, stem-final /n/ selects the diminutive ending -tsje. Other illustrations are seage [sɪ.əɣə] saw > seachje [sɪ.əxjə] small saw and skjirre [skjɪrə] scissors > skjirke [skjɪrkə] small scissors. For a phonological account of this operation, see the topic about schwa-deletion.

    Another final segment that may be deleted is /t/, mainly in the west of the language area, and only after obstruents, i.e. after /f/, /s/ , /p/ or /x/. As with final schwa, the selection of the diminutive allomorph is performed after the deletion. For example, from skoft while we then get the diminutive skoftke little while, pronounced as [skofkə], where /f/ selects the ending -ke. Diminutive forms like kistke [kIskə] (from kiste box) and reseptke [rəsɛpkə] (from resept recipe) go a similar way. Stems ending in -cht /-xt/, like ljocht light or nacht night end in pronunciations like [ljɔxjə] small light or [naxjə] short night. After deletion of stem-final /t/, the remaining /x/ regularly selects the allomorph -je. Note that in in the realm of t-deletion the form of the stem remains intact in the orthography.

    Diminutive formation after these clusters remains regular in the east. There we have skoft while > skoftsje little while or ljochtsje, as expected. Only after -st, which selects -tsje, a further simplification occurs, with the result that between the vowels of the stem and the diminutive only the consonant cluster [sj] is heard. An example is woarst [(v)ṷast] sausage > woarstje [(v)ṷasjə] small sausage. For a phonological account of these simplifications, see the topic on complex segments as single units.

    Voiced obstruents become voiceless before the diminutive suffix. This is most evident with respect to stem-final /ɣ/, as the suffix -je can never cause the putative alternative of regressive assimilation. An example is baarch /ba:rɣ/ pig (cf. bargen [barɣən] pigs) > barchje [barxjə] piglet. Therefore, it must be the diminutive suffix itself that triggers this final devoicing. See for this issue also the phonological domain of Final Devoicing, where the suffixes -lik and -(e)nis are mentioned that bring about devoicing as well.

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    Minimal pairs

    The infinitive suffix -je does not normally bring about devoicing of the preceding fricative. A consequence is that minimal pairs ending in [-xjə] or [ɣjə] may arise, for example eachje small eye versus eagje to gaze, or barchje piglet versus bargje make a mess. More examples of such minimal pairs can be found in examples of minimal pairs of diminutives and verbs.

    Finally, it should be mentioned that after diminuation also the stem vowel can be altered by the well known phenomena of breaking and shortening. In fact, diminutive formation is the most fruitful context for these irregular alternations. Examples of breaking are beam [bɪ.əm] tree > beamke [bjɛmkə] small tree and toer [tu.ər] tower > tuorke [tṷorkə] small tower. Shortening can be exemplified by aai [a:i ̯] egg > aike [ai ̯kə] egg or hân [hɔ:n] hand > hantsje [hɔntsjə] small hand. For a phonological treatment of these irregular alternations, and a wealth of data as well, see breaking and vowel shortening, respectively.

    [+]Semantics and use

    In the unmarked case, diminutives refer to a small entity. A blomke (from blom flower) is simply a small flower. As stated above, diminutives derive from count nouns. Diminutives themselves are also count nouns.

    Something that is small often evokes feelings of endearment, or disdain. In addition, then derivations in -DIM can have an affective connotation, meliorative or pejorative. The example below shows two uses of the diminutive form autoke small car (base: auto car). Sentence (1a) has been said to a child and the derivation autoke small car is just neutral there. In (1b), on the other hand, autoke small car clearly has a pejorative connotation; the car does not necessarily need to be small.

    1
    a. Boartsje mar moai mei dyn autoke, Marijke
    play but beautiful with your car.DIM, Marijke
    Just play nice with your toy car, Marijke
    b. No, dêr komt Piet wer oan, yn dat stomme autoke fan him
    now, there comes Piet again on, in that stupid car.DIM of him
    Well, there's Piet again, in that stupid car of his

    Derivations in -DIM are relatively frequently used while addressing children. Here are two examples:

    2
    a. Doch dyn kleantsjes mar oan
    do your clothes.DIM PTCL on
    Just put your clothes on
    b. Do moatst no op bedsje, hear
    you must now on bed.DIM, well
    Well, you have to go to bed now
    extra
    Child language

    In the language spoken by and to children, one can observe a few special forms. In finkje (from finger finger) and hynke (from hynder horse) we see truncation of a final unstressed syllable. The same applies to ytsjes (from iten food) and drinkjes (from drinken drink), which moreover are transpositions from mass nouns. The diminutive form kijkes cow.PL-DIM-PL is special since it derived from a plural, although this plural kij cows is irregular in relation to the singular ko cow (as is also noted in the section on irregular plural formation).

    In Frisian the affective use of the suffix -DIM is more frequent than in Dutch. Take for instance the noun fyts bicycle. In Dutch the diminutive form fietsje only means small bike, but in Frisian, the diminutive form fytske can have an affective meaning too. The example (a) below shows the ordinary use where the diminutive fytske refers to a small bike. In (b) the speaker does not say that he rides a small cycle. Here, the diminutive has been used merely to underscore that the speaker is content to use the bicycle, more than if he had used the base form op 'e fyts by bike (c).

    3
    a. It lytse famke pakte har fytske en naaide út
    the little girl grabbed her bike and sneaked off
    The little girl took her bike and sneaked off
    b. Ik gean altyd op it fytske nei it wurk
    I go always on the bicycle.DIM to the work
    I always go to work by bike
    c. Ik gean altyd op 'e fyts nei it wurk
    I go always on the bicycle.DIM to the work
    I always go to work by bike

    Although it might be true that diminutives with an affective connotation are more frequent in Frisian than in Dutch, this statement does not apply to nouns indicating an amount of time or weight. In Dutch, these units can have diminutives with a special affective connotation. For example dag day can be diminuated in dagje uit a day out. As noted in the section on noun as base above, diminutive formation with such nouns is rare in Frisian; in such cases rather the base form of the noun is used: in dei fuort a day out.

    Another minor difference with Dutch is the fact that plural diminutives of family names can only refer to the childeren of a couple. Thus the Hoekstrakes Hoekstra-DIM-PL are the children of Hoekstra and his wife. In Dutch, such a plural diminutive can also refer to the couple itself or the whole family. For this purpose, Frisian only uses the plural, without the diminutive form, hence de Hoekstra's Hoekstra-PL Hoekstra and his wife.

    A very special but unproductive function of the suffix is to indicate a female variant of a bird. It occurs, for example, in ljipke female lapwing, the female realization of the ljip lapwing. (For the synonym sijke female lapwing, see the section pronoun as base below). Other female bird names that are formed by adding a diminutive suffix are eintsje female duck, guoske female goose (derived, with breaking, from goes goose) and doke female dove. An example of a female mammal is hûntsje bitch (from hûn dog).

    Note that in the world of the homo sapiens other suffixes are used to derive a female variant from a noun. These are -e, -esse, -inne and -ske.

    [+]Lexicalized diminutives

    Apart from an affective connotation, diminutive formations may sometimes have an extra meaning which is not compositional and therefore must be lexicalized. Here are some examples:

    • ingeltsje, which can be the small variant of an ingel angel, but also has the specific meaning ladybug;
    • tomke, which can be the small variant of a tomme thumb, but also has the specific meaning robin;
    • karke, which can be the small variant of a karre chariot, but also has the specific meaning wheelchair;
    • húske, which can be the small variant of a hûs house, but also has the specific meaning toilet.
    There are even nouns which are diminutives in a formal sense only, i.e. they have the characteristics of a diminutive, but there no longer is a synchronic base word which they can be related to. Examples are:

    Table 4
    Formal diminutive Non-existent base
    sechje say, tale *sech
    mearke fairytale *mear
    ferlechje excuse *ferlech
    touke one year old sheep *tou
    dúmke kind of biscuit *dúm
    baitsje jacket *bait
    krookje crocus *krook

    Semantically, the words above are monomorphematic, but they are formally complex. Not only do they show an ending that can be identified as a diminutive suffix, but they also have neuter gender and a plural in -s. The latter is telling, since monomorphemic words ending in -ke normally take the plural suffix -en, for example harke rake ~ harken rakes.

    The kinship terms pake grandfather, omke uncle and muoike aunt go one step further. For one thing, these words also do not have an existing base (*pa), or the bases are not transparant anymore (omme uncle; muoie woman (mostly perjorative)) and basically have become obsolete. Moreover, these words have common gender: de pake the.C grandfather, etc. The reason for this is the circumstance that they function as personal names; if personal names are pressed to take a definite article, it is always common de. The girl's name Sytske, for example, takes the common article in an expression like de Sytske fan myn dreamen the Sytske of my dreams. An indication that these words are hardly felt to be diminutives any longer is the fact that pake grandfather may take an extra diminutive suffix, particularly in the expression in âld paakje an old man. In a certain sense, we have an instance of stacking here. On the other hand, these three kinship terms select the plural suffix -s, which might be an indication that they can still be considered diminutives to a certain extent, although the word pake grandfather also has the plural variant paken grandfathers, probably under influence of his wife beppe, who has an original plural ending in -en (although the pairing may also work in the other direction, with a duo pakes en beppes grandfathers and grandmothers as a result).

    extra
    Faam girl, a noun with two diminutive forms

    The noun faam girl is exceptional in that it has two different diminutive forms. The first one is the regular (although with shortening) famke girl. The second diminutive form is fanke girl, which has a pejorative connotation. The following example illustrates the difference:

    i
    a. Dat famke mei graach pianospylje
    that girl.DIM may with.pleasure piano-play-INF
    That girl likes to play the piano
    b. Dat fanke is altyd oan it krimmenearjen, ik wurd der net goed fan
    that girl.DIM is always on the nagging, I become there not good of
    That girl is always complaining, it's making me sick

    [+]The diminutive in peripheral dialects

    Apart from a few minor differences mentioned in the section on phonological adjustments above, Frisian diminutive formation has no further signs of dialectical variation. However, this does not apply to the peripheral dialects of the island of Terschelling, of the small western town of Hindeloopen and of the island of Schiermonnikoog. They all deviate from the common Frisian system, and increasingly so in the order just given.

    The island of Terschelling has two Frisian dialects, a western and an eastern one, separated by a zone speaking Meslâns, a mixed Frisian-Dutch dialect. The eastern diminutive system resembles that of the mainland pretty much. It has the same array of allomorphs, also with the same distribution. A small difference is the fact that the ending after the front vowel /e:/ is -tsje, and not -ke. Furthermore, the schwa of the diminutive suffix palatalizes to /i/ in the plural if preceded by /j/. An example is bakje [bakjə] small bin > bakjys [bakjis]. The same phenomenon can be observed in the western dialect.

    extra
    A comparable transition on the mainland

    In the light of the circumstance that the dialects on the island of Terschelling seem to have deloped in relative isolation, it is a striking fact that the north-western dialects on the mainland also show a change of schwa to /i/. However, it has gone farther there in the sense that the preceding /j/ has been deleted (or has merged somehow into the high front vowel /i/). Moreover, the distribution is much wider in these dialects. As to the diminutives, for example, also the singular is affected: standard Frisian spultsje small farm is pronounced as [spöltsi]. But also the sequence -je as it occurs in the paradigm of the weak verbs of class II underwent a change. It caused the verb wenje to live to be pronounced as [vɛni] in these dialects. More information on the north-western transition, which was probably signalled for the first time by Sipma (1913:41), can be found in Visser (1992).

    In addition, western Terschelling shows more deviations. The suffix -tsje has been simplified to -tse (for a similar change in the paradigm of verbs of the weak class II, see assibilation). After back vowels, the ending after the velar nasal /ŋ/ is not -kje but -ke. The ending after /r/ is not -ke but -eke, for example in /pɔ:rəkə/ small pear. Finally, a phonetic detail to be noted is the fact that the underlying combination /xj/ is merged and palatalized to [ç]. It should also be noticed that a considerable number of stem alternations can be observed, as a result of historical processes, especially shortening.

    The Hindeloopen dialect shows a number of allomorphs, which, however, have in common that they do not end in a schwa but in the sequence /ən/. The final /n/ is dropped in the plural before the plural suffix -s. This results, for example, for singular -tjen in a plural ending -tjes. Final /n/ also deletes if the diminutive is the first part of a compound, for example in hudjemekster hat-DIM-make-SUFF hatter (female), which contains the diminutive hudjen small hat, irregularly formed from hoed hat.

    The various surface forms are the following:

    • -tjen after a vowel and after /r/, /l/ and /n/.
    • -jen after the dentals /t/d/ and /s/z/, after the velars /x/ and /k/, and the labials /f/v/ and /p/b/.
    • -kjen after the velar nasal /ŋ/.
    • -pjen after /m/.

    In addition to these, there are a number of irregular diminutives, mostly resulting from historical changes like shortening.

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    Possible influence from Dutch

    It is striking that the Hindeloopen system of diminutive forms resembles the Dutch one more than the Frisian system. This does not necessarily have to be a coincidence. In particular in the 17th and 18th centuries, the small town had intensive contacts with the Hollandic cities on the other side of the former Zuiderzee, especially with Amsterdam. Most skippers sailed for Amsterdam shipowners, and the women of Hindeloopen went shopping in Amsterdam in the autumn, at the end of the sailing season.

    The property that the Hindeloopen diminutive forms end in /n/ (-tjen, etc.) is probably a Frisian feature that once existed in a wider area. See also De Vries (1927) and Brouwer (1969:197).

    The most peculiar of the peripheral dialects is that of Schiermonnikoog, since it does not show productive diminutive formation at all. Small objects are referred to periphrastically by way of the adjective lytj small. Thus the islanders call their home ground Lytje Pole small-INFL territory islet. Diminutive suffixes do exist, but only in a few lexicalized formations, for example in mutjen aunt or petjen cap. Notwithstanding its form, the latter is a cap of normal proportions. To refer to a small specimen, the adjective is used, as in in lytj petjen a.INDF small.SG.N.INDF cap.SG.N a small cap. As is the case in mainland Frisian, the diminutive suffixes make the noun neutral. An exception is mutjen, which is a kinship term, and acts as a personal name; its mainland cognate muoike aunt likewise lacks neuter gender, as we have seen in the section on lexicalized diminutives above.

    [+]Non-nominal bases

    Nearly all derivations ending in -DIM have a count noun as base, but the suffix is so productive that other categories may sometimes function as a base as well. Among them are non-count nouns, as has been seen in the section Noun as base above. Other lexical categories that may play such a role are verbs, adjectives, adverbs, numerals, and, depending on one's analysis, personal pronouns. None of the relevant patterns is productive; this applies particularly to adverbs, numerals and pronouns, with which the diminutive formations are quite rare. The main function of the suffixation is to realize a transposition to the category 'noun', although it is true for all derivations that the diminutive aspect is still present in one or the other way. That is to