In:The Acquisition of Diminutives: A cross-linguistic perspective
Edited by Ineta Savickienė and Wolfgang U. Dressler
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 43] 2007
► pp. 263–278
10. Diminutives in Finnish child-directed and child speech
Published online: 18 January 2007
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.43.11laa
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.43.11laa
There are various means to form diminutives in Finnish, for example regular suffixation (e.g. isä ‘father’ + i > isi ‘daddy’) and modification of the stem possibly combined with suffixation (e.g. kissa ‘cat’ > kisu ‘pussycat’, maha ‘stomach’ > masu ‘tummy’). The article first deals with the different types of Finnish diminutives and then examines the diminutives of two Finnish-speaking children. In early child language, a trochaic bias is observed. In diminutive formation, there is a tendency towards transparent inflection: when forming diminutives by stem modification, different morphophonological alternations are eliminated and transparent inflection patterns are favoured.
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Cited by five other publications
Kirjavainen, Minna & Maija Surakka
2025. The acquisition of Finnish morphology and syntax. In First Language Acquisition in Finno-Ugric Languages [Trends in Language Acquisition Research, 33], ► pp. 156 ff.
Laalo, Klaus & Reili Argus
Laalo, Klaus
2017. Chapter 8. Acquisition of compound nouns in Finnish. In Nominal Compound Acquisition [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders, 61], ► pp. 191 ff.
Laalo, Klaus
2021. Derivation in Finnish child speech and child-directed speech. In The Acquisition of Derivational Morphology [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders, 66], ► pp. 237 ff.
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