A comparison of diminutive expressions in English and Sloveneas exemplified by Roald Dahl’s Matilda

Abstract

The article presents and compares ways of expressing diminution in English and Slovene nouns, verbs and adjectives with the aim of testing a hypothesis suggesting that Slovene uses diminutive forms more frequently than English. Depending on language typology, diminutiveness can be realized predominantly word-formationally or predominantly analytically. The hypothesis is tested against an analysis of diminutive forms used in Dahl’s Matilda and its Slovene translation, showing that Slovene indeed prefers to use diminutives more frequently than English. A tendency can be established for Slovene to form diminutives by word-formational means in the categories of noun and verb. In verbs, English tends towards neutrality of expression. Frequent use of multiple diminutiveness and the ability of analytic and synthetic diminutive forms to be freely interchangeable in Slovene testify to the strong presence of diminutive forms in the language system.