Values and uses of the diminutive suffix "-inho" in European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

This study aims to revisit the essential dimensions of the suffix -inho in Portuguese, either in the European or in the Brazilian Portuguese, and analyzes some of the descriptions that have been made of them, in order to clarify (i) the systemic value of -inho in the word-formation network of the Portuguese language, and (ii) the values of use that it admits, due to several variables, such as: the nature of the base to which it connects, the intonation and the elocutive’s intensity with which it is used, the illocutionary intentionality of the speaker, the evaluative value to be transmitted, the formal, informal, ironic and situational context and message in which it occurs. It is important to differentiate the systemic values of the suffix from the values that the derivative in which it occurs conveys, due to the characteristics of the text and the linguistic situation in which it is used. In a text produced in ironic or sarcastic register, the whole message is permeated by these values, but it cannot be affirmed that the systemic value of the suffix is that of irony or sarcasm, classes that do not configure any derivational paradigm of Portuguese. Thus, besides to provide a categorization of the semantic-pragmatic values associated with the use of this suffix and to reanalyze some myths that persist in some of its descriptions, the elaboration of this text has also a pedagogical intention: to provide PL2 learners with an overview of the values and uses of the diminutive suffix -inho in Portuguese, that allows them to effectively use the suffix in their interaction with native speakers of Portugal or of Brazil.