Morphopragmatic View on the Ironic Use of Diminutives in Polish Cover Image

Morphopragmatic View on the Ironic Use of Diminutives in Polish
Morphopragmatic View on the Ironic Use of Diminutives in Polish

Author(s): Paulina Polak
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: diminutives; morphopragmatics; irony; evaluation; conversation; perception

Summary/Abstract: This paper focuses on the use of diminutives in Polish to express irony. The phenomenon is analyzed from the perspective of morphopragmatics (Dressler, Merlini Barbaresi 1994; Merlini Barbaresi 2015; Nagórko 2015) and reports on the results of a small-scale informant-based study, in which twelve respondents described their evaluation of the pragmatic meaning contributed by diminutives in three naturally-occurring spoken sentences. In most cases, there was a negative reaction to the diminutives as it was considered they represent an arrogant type of irony.

  • Issue Year: 18/2023
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 69-84
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: English