Pistas linguísticas e paralinguísticas para os sentidos diminutivos

Abstract

In terms of normative grammar, it was agreed that the diminutive is the grammatical process that refers to derived names that, by means of suffixes, denote the notion of small dimension in relation to their primitive words (OLIVEIRA, 1536; BARBOSA, 1822; SOARES BARBOSA; 1845, inside others). However, the derivation process in diminutives results not only in the idea of smallness: (i) diminutives express ideas associated with emotions (CUNHA; CINTRA, 1985; BECHARA, 2009 and more), reducing situations in an appreciative or depreciatory way; (ii) as there are also diminutives that are in an ongoing process of lexicalization or that are already part of the language lexicon (ROCHA LIMA, 1992; ROCHA; VICENTE, 2016). In Brazilian Portuguese, the behavior of the diminutive has been observed from [x-inho] and [x-zinho] as variants of a linguistic variable to understand the meaning of the diminutive, highlighting the effect of structural variables related to the expression of the suffix. However, there is still little evidence of systematic patterns for the distinction between lexicalized and affective diminutives, and between positive and negative appreciation; the values are derived from the analyst's intuition and subjectivity to assess, through contextual clues (linguistic and paralinguistic), the valuation of the diminutive. In order to expand the scope of analysis on the meaning of the diminutive, we consider the type of classification of the diminutive (whether it is affective or lexicalized) + the type of appreciation (positive or negative) to analyze the behavior of the phenomenon in 30 sociolinguistic interviews documented in audio and video with university students from the Federal University of Sergipe. From 241 occurrences, we identified the association of structural factors (morphological basis, suffix, syllabic extension, class), stylistic factors (discursive topic and speaker involvement), suprasegmental factors (prosodic resources) and paralinguistic factors (facial expressions), expanding the explanatory power on the meaning of diminutives. Two independent analyzes were carried out: (i) structural variables and prosodic variables (association tests and analysis of variance); (ii) and an analysis with semantic and emotional variables (with facial recognition based on the Action Coding Systems - FACS protocol). We observed that there is a convergence between the results of analyzes that take the suffix as a dependent variable. The variables morphological base, suffix, tonicity, extension and class have a statistically significant association with the distinction between lexicalized and affective diminutives. In the mixed-effects model, participant and lexical item as random effects have a strong interference in the classification of diminutives into lexicalized and affective. This result suggests a kind of full morphological parsing: the speaker processes the word as a whole in the semantic interpretation of the diminutive. The effects of prosodic variables were not statistically significant in the sample, perhaps due to the fact that the sample was restricted. In the analysis of the facial recognition of the speakers, the results suggest a relationship between the participant's facial expression and the type of appreciation associated with the diminutive. The results show that there are linguistic and paralinguistic clues that act in the differentiation of diminutives, whether between lexicalized and affective, and between positive and negative appreciation, contributing with evidence for intuitive analyzes, such as those presented in grammars. We highlight the limitation of the sample, and large-scale testing can increase the explanatory power of the results.