Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31724/rihjj.47.1.5
Are there hypocoristic adjectives in Polish? A Study of Colour Terms
Olga Sokołowska
orcid.org/0000-0002-4722-113X
; Instytut Anglistyki i Amerykanistyki, Wydział Filologiczny, Uniwersytet Gdański
Mikołaj Rychło
orcid.org/0000-0003-1821-7219
; Instytut Anglistyki i Amerykanistyki, Wydział Filologiczny, Uniwersytet Gdański
Abstract
The descriptive grammars of Polish recognize the category of hypocoristics only in connection with denominal nouns. This research demonstrates that there are good reasons to postulate an adjectival category for hypocoristic formations with regard to derivatives such as bielutki, bielusieńki, bialutki, bieluśki, bieluteńki, bieluchny, bieleńki, bialusieńki, bialuśki, bialuteńki, bielusi. A major argument for this refers to the analysis conducted in this paper, which identifies several recurring morphemes present both in typical nominal hypocoristics and, likewise, in the derived adjectives under investigation. The article also concerns the semantic and pragmatic effects of hypocorization of Polish colour terms in the role of attributive adjectives. A study in the National Corpus of the Polish Language with the aid of the PELCRA search engine into the occurrences of such forms confirms that adjectival colour terms perform both the semantic and pragmatic functions of hypocorisms specified in dictionary as well as encyclopaedic definitions of the phenomenon. However, the hypocoristic morphemes attached to colour adjectives, and to unmarked adjectives in antonymous pairs, do not signify a diminished size, but rather signal a positive emotional attitude in the speaker and are used to intensify the description of a colour sensation, i.e., to indicate that a given colour property is recognized in its prime. The pragmatic, emotional load of such terms seems to be no different than in the case of typical, nominal hypocoristic forms; the considered colour terms generally (though not always) express positive speaker attitude.
Keywords
hypocorism; expressives; colours; morphology; functions; Polish word-formation
Hrčak ID:
260594
URI
Publication date:
20.10.2021.
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