Forms and functions of diminutives in the Igbo language

3.1.1 Derivational suffix

Derivational suffixes in Igbo extend the meaning of the verb root to which it is attached without changing the lexical class of the verb. These suffixes precede inflectional suffixes. This precedence feature makes them closer to the verb root. With respect to Igbo diminutives, the identified derivation suffixes are -tụ́ and -bì.

In (1a–c), -tụ́ serves the function of indicating short duration. In 1a, the structure of the verb where the diminutive marker -tụ́ is affixed is made of the root verb me ‘do’ and an -rV past tense suffix marker. The structure aligns with Emenanjo’s (2015) argument that extensional suffixes, to which -tụ́ belongs, are usually closer to the verb root and precede inflectional suffixes such as the past tense marker rụ . The use of ọnụ azịza ‘tip of a broom’ and the diminutive marker shows that it is just a small fraction of the broom that touched the individual. This reflects the partitive semantic sense of diminutives in which a small amount of a noun is used to perform an action, which lasted briefly (Jurafsky 1996). Unlike Emenanjo’s (2015) claim that extensional suffixes in Igbo are optional in the sense that they are only used if desired, (1a) above shows that -tụ́ is an obligatory constituent if one wants to communicate that the tip of the broomstick touched an individual, especially for a short duration.^[1] For instance, if one says:

(2a) is syntactically correct based on the SVO structure of the Igbo sentence, but it has no meaning because it lacks a diminutive marker which extends the meaning of smallness and contact. (2b) is similarly syntactically correct but semantically deficit because the verb dàsàrà ‘fell on (verb, pst)’ often collocates with entities that are big or medium in size.

(1b, c) are imperative structures and reflect the semantic sense of partitive where only a small part of the tongue and a small part of the body such as the elbow is needed for touching and nudging, respectively (see Jurafsky 1996). (1b) involves an invitation to taste something, which is usually edible. The diminutive notions it carries lie in the smallness of the duration involved in testing and the small portion that is needed for the tasting activity to be executed. From the speaker’s perspective, the evoked attitude of the diminutive in (1b) is that of positivity and uncertainty. The utterer believes that what he/she asks the addressee to taste is sweet and will be liked by the addressee. This conviction is stimulated by the fact that the speaker tasted the substance and has concluded that the substance tastes favourable, thus his/her conviction to tell someone else to try. At the same time, the speaker understands that what may be appealing to him/her may not be the same for another; thus, the importance of tasting a small portion of the substance so that if the addressee does not like the taste, at least the little portion he/she has taken may cause no harm.

In (1c), the inclusion of the diminutive marker communicates a sense of a little push, which is often used to attract attention. In line with Schneider’s (2003: 11) submission, “smallness is not an absolute measure but it depends on the category taken into consideration”. Hence, kwàtụ́ ‘push’ denotes a bigger activity than mètụ́ ‘touch’. In kwàtụ́ , a larger part of the body such as the elbow or palm is involved but in mètụ́ , a tip of the finger is enough to touch someone. Within a large semantic category, the diminutive construction of ‘push’ is also realisable. Since the act of pushing involves a great amount of force, the inclusion of the diminutive marker -tụ́ in (1c) shows that the type of push needed is a small one. In kwà ákā ‘push’, it requires exerting some energy since the goal is to displace an entity from its usual position to another position on the same surface level, or towards the upward direction as in kwàgó ‘push up (VERB PRS)’ or towards the downward direction as in kwádà ‘push down’ whereas in kwàtụ́ ‘nudge (VERB PRS)’, it does not demand a displacement and so does not require exertion of energy. Kwàtụ́ yā ākā ‘nudge him/her’ can evoke either a positive or negative attitude depending on the context of usage.

(1a–c) show that verbal stems to which -tụ́ is affixed are transitive (Nwachukwu 1983) or allow complements (Emenanjo 2005).^[2] However, it does not mean that -tụ́ does not co-occur with non-transitive verbs or verbs with only bound cognate nouns, as in ọ gbajitụrụ agbaji “it is broken a little” where agbaji is a bound cognate noun. (1a–c) also show that tone has no influence in the formation of diminutives since the main verb in Igbo syntactic constructions bear low tones as in mètụ̀rụ̀ and disyllabic imperative constructions in Igbo often follow the low-high tones (Mbah and Mbah 2015). Unlike in English and other Indo-European languages where it has been argued that synthetic diminutives are formed from nouns (Schneider 2003; Gorzycka 2020), synthetic diminutives in Igbo, as evident in (1a–c), are formed from verbs because Igbo is a verbial language (Nwachukwu 2006). As a verbial language, other lexical categories (such as adjectives and adverbs) can be formed from verbs but verbs cannot be formed from other lexical categories. This supports the claim that verbs can occur with diminutive marking (Aikhenvald 2008).

Apart from conveying a sense of short/mild contact, -tụ́ in Igbo can also be used to show temporal shortness. One of the features of this diminutive is that it does not just show the smallness of an object or entity, it also shows the smallness of time one has to perform an action or an extension of time by a few minutes. This aligns with Jurafsky’s (1996) view that diminutives indicate the length of a temporal extent. For instance:

Examples (3a–e) show another denotation of -tụ́ as a diminutive marker. It is evident that with respect to temporal shortness, -tụ́ can be used to signal the addition of a little time to an already existing time. The time that is considered short can only be interpreted on an individual basis because not all husbands have the same sex duration. -Tụ́ in (3a) also doubles as a pragmatic marker of politeness, which a speaker uses to mitigate the face of men, owing to the claim that men are egocentric and often get angry when they are told that they are not sexually satisfying their spouses. Ordinarily, (3a) without a diminutive marker evokes a negative attitude, but with the diminutive marker, the degree of imposition is hedged, which creates room for acceptance of the suggestion (see also Jurafsky 1996). Example (3b) shows the temporal shortness with respect to pausing for a while during speech, either to allow the other speaker to take his/her turn in speech or as a way of self-reflection. The diminutive marker shows that Ikem’s pause was not for a long time but for a short time, which does not affect the flow of discussion. Similarly, in (3c), the old man’s smile shows that it was for a short time. The diminutive marker emphasises the duration at which the smile lasted. (3c) also confirms that the suffixation of -tụ́ does not change the class of the word and that it preceded an inflectional suffix -rụ , which serves as a past tense marker.

In (3d), the diminutive marker also indicates shortness in time. Without it, the expression provides a sense of complete duration. Its presence implies that Uche attempted to sweep the house, but was denied. With his insistence, he was allowed to sweep for a short time. The diminutive in (3d) functions to soften the plea in the imperative, which might mitigate the negative attitude the imperative may evoke on the addressed. (3e) mitigates the face of the addressee with the use of biko ‘please’ and shows the short duration requested to wait for someone. The suffixation of the diminutive gives the addressee the feeling that he/she does not have to wait so long. So, he/she is brimmed with the hope that the person he/she is waiting for will not waste time wherever he/she is.

In addition to -tụ́ functioning as a marker of temporal shortness, it can be used to mark smallness in the context of spatial dimensions, as seen in the examples below:

Examples (4a, b) are expressions used in phonetics when referring to Igbo vowel sounds. They show the height of the tongue in the buccal cavity. (4a) shows that in the buccal cavity, the tongue is neither totally close to the roof of the mouth nor fully in its resting position. In contrast, (4c) indicates a small movement towards an individual. This shows that Ọmasịrị was not too far from the person. The Igbo language, with its verbs, shows distance and movement. Without -tụ́ in the sentence, as in example (5), it is ambiguous to ascertain whether the agent will walk a short or long distance.

-Tụ́ can also be used to mark small featural differentiation, that is, to show a little difference that exists between two entities, which Jurafsky (1996) refers to as approximation. For instance:

(6a, b) present situations in which the two objects are slightly different in their features. These suggest that the differences are minimal. In most cases, one needs to observe the objects closely to be able to identify the difference(s). More so, the objects that have a slight featural difference can be said to be co-hyponyms of a superordinate term. The cap in (6a) and the dress in (6b) belong to a superordinate category (clothing), but at the intermediate level they can also exist as superordinate categories in their own right since there are different types of caps and dresses. The slight difference on which hyponyms of cap and dress can be based is marked by the diminutive -tụ́ in Igbo. Angitso (2022) argues that diminutives perform an approximation function when an entity is nearly, but not exactly, the same as the target or referent. In this case, the caps, dresses and sounds are not completely the same. The attitude that (6a, b) evoke depends on the intention of the speaker and the context of use. This can evoke a positive attitude when the speaker likes being different from others, which enables him/her to identify their cap or dress whenever it is missing. The attitude may be negative if it is viewed from a marginalised perspective where the speaker thinks that the cap or dress given to others is of better quality than his/hers. In (6c), the diminutive marker is used to show that, in the case of coalescent assimilation, the resulting speech sound has a small feature of the two sounds that gave rise to it. Since (6c) deals with an inanimate subject, it can be argued that its attitude is null.

(6a–c) also show that tone on the diminutive marker does not influence the lexical items to which it is attached. Rather, what is observed is that -tụ́ appears to align itself with the tone of the verb. The tone -tụ́ bears when pronounced alone (its inherent tone) is high, and as can be seen in (6a, b), it changed to a low tone because dị bears a low tone, and when -tụ́ is suffixed to nwe whose tone is inherently high, -tụ́ retained its inherent high tone.

Instances also exist where the diminutive marker -tụ́ is used alongside the analytic diminutive, obere ‘little’, which can be redundant or tautological at the surface level.

Although it is syntactically accepted in Igbo, the inclusion of obere in (7a, b) appears to be semantically redundant. This is because, with the elision of óbérē , the constructions will still be meaningful and communicate a sense of both diminutive and politeness. However, a deeper look at the structures shows that there is an attempt to decongest the semantic-cum-pragmatic load on -tụ́. As such, the synthetic diminutive marker -tụ́ solely functions as a pragmatic marker of politeness in (7a, b), which Nwoye (1989) argues can be used even if what is being requested is not a portion of something. The diminutive meaning, which -tụ́ carries was transferred to óbérē, which then qualifies òhèrè and ógè respectively. The analytic diminutive óbérē then qualifies òhèrè and ógè to show that the opportunity and time that are required is a small one. Being sentences with politeness markers, (7a, b) evoke a positive attitude as an addressee will interpret the constructions as face enhancing.

Examples (7c, d) present a different scenario from (7a, b) as the constructions are purely tautological. The removal of óbérē from the sentences will still convey the meaning of short duration characterising the dance and sleep. A competent L1 or L2 Igbo speaker will understand that the dance and sleep did not take long. A possible explanation for the inclusion of the derivational suffix -tụ́ and obere in the same syntactic construction is for the purpose of emphasis. It emphasises the shortness of dance, which may have continued even after Akabụọgụ stopped dancing as well as the existing amount of sleep, which cannot be exhausted. Another remarkable feature of the verbal complex where -tụ́ occurs in (7a, b) is the inherent complements they license. Finally, (7a–d) show that both synthetic and analytic diminutive markers can occur together in the same Igbo syntactic constructions.

In addition to -tụ́ , another derivational suffix that functions as a diminutive in Igbo is -bì . This diminutive has not been reported in the Igbo diminutive literature. Of the three identified studies that have touched on Igbo diminutives, only -tụ́ (Nwoye 1989) and nwá (Nwaozuzu 1991; Ugwuona 2009) have been identified as diminutives in Igbo. -bì also functions as a diminutive as shown in the examples below:

(8a) shows the diminutive function of -bì as a marker used to show a small portion of an object. The exclusion of -bì will change the meaning of the sentence to eating the whole meat and not a piece of it. The attitude that (8a) evokes can be both negative and positive. This evokes a positive attitude toward the individual who will benefit from the piece of meat, whereas it will be evaluated negatively by the person whose meat is about to be shortened. The verbal stems of (8b, c) have the same structures and signal a reduction in water and chaos, respectively, to a small degree. The extensional suffix -látá does not have a specific meaning, but it contributes to the meaning of reducing or bringing down something, such as water or confusion. This supports Emenanjo’s (2015) claim that extensional suffixes do not have a direct translation in Igbo morphology.

Another remarkable thing to note in (8a–c) is that -bì retains its inherent low tone, since changing its tone to high as bí can mean ‘live’ or ‘cut (into pieces)’. It does not impose its tone on the root verb where it is affixed or the inflection suffix (8a) or extensional suffixes (8b, c) that come after it. It goes again to show that diminutives in Igbo can serve as suffixes attached to verbs.

While -tụ́ and -bi occur in the same position on the verb as suffixes, they differ slightly in their functions. -Tụ́ often indicates a small, brief, or slight action. It suggests doing something to a lesser extent or in a minimal way. -bi typically implies a slight reduction, lowering, or downward motion. It is used to indicate actions that involve decreasing or bringing something down.

3.1.2 Derivational prefixation

Derivational prefixation is another morphological process used for the formation of synthetic diminutives in Igbo. It is often used to form young versions of entities. For instance:

It has been established in the literature that diminutives are used to signal the young counterparts of animals or humans. In Igbo, nwá ‘child (sg)’ and ụ́mụ̀ ‘children (pl)’ prefixed to the diminutive adjective ntakịrị ‘small’ is used to mean a young person. Nwa can also be added to other words, such as nwaada ‘miss’ indicating a young woman. It can be observed in example (9) that the ‘n’ in ntakịrị was retained in ụmụntakịrị but elided in nwatakịrị . This is evidence of language change observable in Igbo, where spoken Igbo influences written Igbo to an extent. Prototypically, nwá and ụ́mụ̀ are used in Igbo as singular and plural diminutive markers respectively. Hence, nwaakwụkwọ ‘student (sg-n)’ is singular while ụmụakwụkwọ ‘students (pl-n)’ becomes the plural version. (9a, b) show the singular diminutive form whereas (9c, d) represent the plural structure. As can be observed in (9a–d), Igbo is wont to include either nwókē ‘male’ or nwáányị̀ ‘female’ to make a distinction between the gender of the child(ren) being referred to. Without this gendered marking, it can be interpreted that the children being referred to include both males and females. The prototypical attitude that nwatakịrị or ụmụntakịrị evokes is positive because children are seen as innocent beings who everyone cherishes. They are viewed as future leaders who must be nurtured at their tender age. As a radial category of diminutives, Jurafsky (1996) argues that child or young is associated with the semantic sense of a member of a family and the pragmatic sense of affection and intimacy.

3.1.3 Blending

In the formation of synthetic Igbo diminutives, the corpus shows that blending is another morphological process that can be obtained. The blending process involves the adjective nta ^[3] ‘small’. Blending is a word-formation process that involves the merging of two lexical constituents. It often involves two other word-formation processes: clipping (subtraction) and compounding (addition). One or two of the constituents are clipped and then merged with each other. Simply put, blending is “an intentional and formally ingenious way of associating the semantics of two or more words in a new morphological object” (Renner 2015: 119). For example:

(10a) show that nwátà is formed by the compounding of nwá and ńtà . Before the compounding process occurred, there is a clipping of /n/ which is at the word-initial position. This apheresis also applies to (10b). The elision of the segment /n/ also resulted in the deletion of the tone it bears, as there is no sign of a floating tone when (10a, b) are pronounced. In (10c), the name Ugwuntịkịrị is often used by the Nsukka Igbo. In some dialects of Igbo like Ngwa, ńtà or ńtàkị́rị́ ‘small’ can be realised as ńtị̀ị́ where the /a/ in nta is changed to ‘ị’ and subsequently lengthened whereas other part of the word kịrị is elided. In Nsukka Igbo, aside from nta being realised as já, which Ugwuona (2009) identifies as one of the diminutive markers in the Iheaka dialect of Igbo (also a part of the Nsukka dialect cluster), nta can also be realised as ntịkịrị ‘small’ where the ‘a’ in the standard Igbo is changed to ‘ị’. Overall, the diminutives in (10) belong to the category ‘small’ and have the semantic sense of ‘small type of’ (Jurafsky 1996).

The data show that tone does not condition the formation of blended Igbo diminutives, because the inherent tones of the individual words remain unchanged after the blending process is complete. (10a–c) show that the word class of the base word retained its noun form even after undergoing the blending process with the adjectival diminutives ńtá and ńtị̀kị́rị́.

3.1.4 Compounding

As a word formation process, compounding involves the joining of two lexemes. With regard to diminutive formation in Igbo, compounding can be seen in the following examples:

(11a–c) show how the Igbo use the diminutive ńtà to form what is known as Jr . in English. Ńtà here functions as a diminutive marker that shows the young version of a prototype, offspring or descendant of X and performs affective function (Angitso 2022). It implies that there is an older person known as Ọjị, Okoli , and Kalụ . The addition of ńtà is to differentiate the old from the young. In most cases, the young are the sons of the elderly. The attitude that (11a–c) evoke is positive, as the prototype is happy that he has found someone who will perpetuate the lineage of his ancestors. The young also evaluate the title positively because of the benefits they may likely receive from the prototype, such as the inheritance of property and the reception of gifts. (11d) presents a different meaning, as it describes a small town. Mbanta is a place name popularised by Achebe’s Things Fall Apart where Okonkwo (the protagonist) sought refuge when he was exiled in Ụmụọfịa. It is a small town that has been lexicalised as one word through compounding. As a small town, its members are often united but may be conquered by bigger and stronger towns or nations.

In addition to the above examples of compounding, there exists a ‘secondary diminutive formation’ in Igbo, which involves compounding of two diminutives, as exemplified in (12).

In (12a–c), this type of compounding involves two diminutive markers nwa ‘small’ and ntị-ntị ‘little’ for the formation of another diminutive nwantịntị , which can mean ‘little’ (12a), ‘a while’ or ‘pause’ (12b) or ‘short’ (12c) depending on its context of use. Echeruo (2001: 115) classifies nwa when functioning as a diminutive as a noun, which he argues is “attached to nouns when the meaning, ‘son of’ or ‘child of’ is not really intended – nwa aka = dwarf; nwa ajụjụ = a little question”. Thus, examples 12a–c show that nwantịntị is a compound word comprising nwa as a noun and ntịntị as an adjective. Nwáńtị́ntị́ can occur at the sentence initial position before an adverb (12a), in the medial sentence position as a predicate (12b) as well as the sentence final position where it functions as a predicative adjective (12c). The word classes of nwa and ntịntị did not change after compounding had taken place. The prototypical meaning of nwáńtị́ntị́ is ‘below the small size’ or ‘tiny’. Another variant of nwantịntị which is also used by the Igbo is ntị́ị́ , formed by the deletion of nwá , and the second /nt/ in ńtị́ńtị́. (12c) is a popular expression among the Igbo, which one uses whenever one wants to express hope that love will find him/her soon. The phrase ị́hụ̀nànyà nwáńtị́ńtị́ ‘small love’ or love nwáńtị́ńtị́ as it is often used has been semantically elaborated to mean the early stage of love when two individuals are fond of each other. In all, nwáńtị́ńtị́ evokes a positive, intimate, and affectionate feeling. The tones on nwáńtị́ńtị́ in (12a–c) remain unchanged, which show that tone plays no grammatical function in the formation of the diminutive.

3.1.5 Reduplication

Repetitive and rhyming reduplications can be involved in the formation of diminutives in some languages (Gorzycka 2020). Only repetitive reduplication was identified in the Igbo corpus used in this study. This kind of reduplication is similar to what is known as complete reduplication in the literature. For instance:

(13a–b) show the diminutive formed by the reduplication of kịrị to denote ‘small in size’. In (13a), kị́rị́-kị́rị́ is an object of the verb gbàrà , which makes it to belong to the gbá verbal complex whereas in (13b), it follows the copular verb dị́. Kịrịkịrị in (13a) evokes a negative attitude as individuals often opt to buy eggs that are big in size but in (13b), it arouses an attitude of excitement of being privileged to see a chameleon that is small in size. Such a positive evaluation is possible because of the positive attitude that young animals evoke (Gorcyzka 2020). On the other hand, (13c) provides a reduplicated diminutive ḿpé-ḿpé , which use is less frequent in Igbo. Its frequent collocate is ákwụ́kwọ́ ‘paper’, which often means a piece of paper. Prototypically, ákwụ́kwọ́ in Igbo means ‘book’ but when it co-occurs with ḿpé-ḿpé , it often denotes ‘paper’. In terms of ‘small book’, óbéré ákwụ́kwọ́ is opted for. Mpe-mpe can evoke both positive and negative attitude depending on the context of usage. Among the Igbo, when someone wants to write a brief note to oneself or a close friend, writing it on a piece of paper will not be negatively evaluated unlike when someone writes a job application on a piece of paper. Examples (13d, e) show that ńké∼ńké can be used to denote ‘short’ or ‘brief’. In (13d), it acts as an attributive adjective where it modifies ákụ́kọ́ ‘story’ while acting as a predicative adjective in (13e) where it modifies the pronoun ya ‘it’. In Igbo discursive events, ígbū ōkwū ńkéńké ‘cut your speech short (INF-cut N ADJ)’ is often used to tell someone to get to the point of his/her speech because of lack of time. In situations where people have many things to do, being presented with a story or participating in an event where interlocutors abide by the Gricean maxim of quantity (i.e., to be brief) (Grice 1975), evokes a positive attitude.