Diminutives in Luganda

by Medadi Erisa Ssentanda

DIMINUTIVES IN LUGANDA

Introduction

A diminutive (DIM) form refers to a slight degree of something, smallness of an object or quality, but it can also express intimacy or endearment. Luganda (Bantu E15) like many other Bantu languages uses noun class prefixes and adjectives to mark diminutives. When a noun appears in its diminutive form agreement is required. This means that various words that modify the noun must carry agreement prefixes.

It is interesting that all nouns and all proper names in Luganda can appear in a diminutive form by adding an affix. Diminutives in Luganda are widely formed by assigning any noun or proper name to classes 12/13 (12 = aka/ 13= otu) for singular and plural respectively. Class 14 (obu) is also diminutive, but class 14 contains more inherent nouns than 12 and 13. Classes 12/13 have very few nouns that inherently belong to these classes, and these inherently assigned nouns are not semantically diminutives. Examples of inherently assigned nouns to class 12/13 are:

Nouns inherent to cl12	English translation
akajanja
akatandaalo	a raised table like structure for drying utencils
akalulu	vote
akateebe	deep water
akakunizo	puzzle
akamooli	ventilator

|Nouns inherent to cl13 |- |akajanja | no plural | |- |akateebe | |deep water |- |}

Class 13otu has only one inherent noun, otulo sleep (no plural).

Class 14Obu (plural) has many inherently assigned nouns to it. See table below:

noun	English translation
obulo	millet
obubaka	message
obuugi	porridge
obukeedo	raw material for making a basket

Noun class prefixes denoting diminution

Examples are given in the table below:

Noun class	Root	Diminutive	Gloss
cl12 aka-	-sajja man	akasajja	small/tiny man
cl12 aka-	-wala girl	akawala	small/tiny girl
cl12 aka	caayi tea	kacaayi	tea (endeared)(from Swahili, chai)
cl12 aka	-ti tree	akati	stick/tiny/small tree
13OTU Uncountable nouns	-zzi waterkm light in a year	otuzzi	small amount of water/precious water
cl12 aka	-nnyu salt	otunnyu	little salt/precious salt
cl14 OBU Plural	-lenzi boy	obulenzi	small boys, derogatorykm light in a year
cl14 obu	-papula paper	obupapula	small/tiny papers/beautiful papers

Example sentences

Akasajja kali kantama

“I loathe the other man”

Akasajja
a	ka	sajja
IV	12DIM	man
N

kali
ka	li
12DIM	DIST2
DEM

kantama
ka	n	tam	a
12SBJ	1SGOBJ	loathe	FV
V

Leeta wano otunnyu twange

“Bring here my (endeared/precious) salt”

Leeta
leet	a
bring	FV
V

wano

wano

here

PREP

otunnyu
o	tu	nnyu
IV	13DIM	salt
N

twange
twa	ange
POSS13	mine
PNposs

Talina mulimu, akola bulimulimu bwasanze

“S/he has no proper job, s/he does any job s/he finds”

Talina
te	a	lin	a
notNEG		have	FV
V

mulimu
mu	limu
	work/job
N

akola
a	kol	a
3P	wrok/do	FV
V

bulimulimu
bu	limu	limu
	work/job14DIM
N

bwasanze
bwe	a	sang	-įle
	3P	find	PFV
V

The other additional element of meaning that is often associated with diminutive forms in Luganda is the emotive element involving expression of affection, endearment or sympathy towards the referent. For instance, in sentence (1) above, the speaker treasures the little salt referred to. Possibly it is the only salt left, and he/she cannot stand to waste it.

Like Booij (2005:14) puts it, diminutives are not only used to denote small size but also for giving a positive negative evaluation. For instance in sentence (3) the jobs referred to are disapproved, they are not proper. I thought he/she does any kind of job he/she finds; he/she does not discriminate, and the jobs are short lived, but not disapproved In Luganda, diminution can also be formed by adding affixes to proper names: when this is done, the noun becomes derogatory and negatively evaluates the referent. This addition of a diminutive prefix onto a proper name can also mean little or endearment. However, the meaning here can also be colloquial. For instance:

Kamukasa

“Small Mukasa/ Endeared Mukasa.”

Kamukasa
ka	mukasa
12DIM
Np

kajohn kaako kazze

“Little/small John has come”

kajohn
ka	john
12DIM
Np

kaako
ka	a	ka	o
12		12AGR	DIST
DEM

kazze
ka	jj	-įle
12AGR	come	PFV
V

In this case the meaning of the diminutive varies from the context to context, see example ii above. The John in question can be endeared to the speaker or that the John talked of is negatively evaluated (derogatory). In his paper, A short survey of Diminutives in Slovak and English Alena Kačmárová mentions something interesting about diminutives: A means by which a language can be considered ‘cute’ is the usage of diminutive forms of nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. In Luganda this phenomenon is true, diminution can at times be untranslatable. It is not uncommon in Ugandan English to hear Luganda speakers appending Luganda diminutives to English words in an attempt to express their intended meaning. This probably comes because the intended shade of meaning has no match to the English equivalents. What is interesting is that, the diminutives are sometimes appended to the English diminutives, see example iii and iv below. The same case happens with augmentation.

Your kadress is so beautiful

“Your dress (endeared) is so beautiful”

Your

your

2p

PRTposs

kadress
ka	dress
12DIM	dress
N

is

is

AUX

so

so

INTS

beautiful

beautiful

ADJ

Give me a kasmall piece

“Give me a small piece ”

Give

give

give

V

me

me

me1POBJ

PN

a

a

ART

kasmall
ka	small
12	small
ADJ

piece

piece

piece

N

In example (6) the speaker endears the dress. The dress is not necessarily small but it is endeared or taken to be precious to the speaker. This kind of language is so common among the youth.

In example (7) notice that ka (class12 prefix) denotes smallness, and the English adjective small also means small; but because of the untranslatable nature of some meanings, some speakers feel unsatisfied with using only the English adjective.

Adjectives denoting diminution

-tono small

Njagala amazzi matono

“I want little water”

Njagala
n	yagal	a
1PSBJ	want	FV
V

amazzi
a	ma	zzi
IV	6	water
N

matono
ma	tono
6	little/small
ADJ

Olugoye lwe lutono telumutuuka

“His/her cloth is small, it does not fit him/her”

Olugoye
o	lu	goye
IV	11SG	cloth
CN

lwe
lu	e
11	his/hersPOSS

lutono
lu	tono
11AGR	small
ADJ

telumutuuka
te	lu	mu	tuuk	a
notNEG	11AGR	3P	fit	FV
V

–tini tiny

Mpa katini

“Give me a tiny piece”

Mpa
n	w	a
1P	give	FV
V

katini
ka	tini
12DIM	tiny
ADJ

This adjective, -tini is very common in young children’s language. They use it to refer to smallness and also to tininess of something. Adults do not usually use this adjective.

Cultural usage of diminutives

In Kiganda culture, when someone gives birth, people begin to ask of the sex of the baby one gave birth to. The question posed in this situation is diminutive denoting littlness, endearment and affection:

Namubiru yazadde kaana ki?

“Which sex of the child did Namubilu give birth to?”

Namubiru

namubiru

Np

yazadde
a	a	zaal	-įle
3P	PAST	birth	PFV
V

kaana
ka	ana
12DIM	child
N

ki?

ki?

Q

Wh

Also, when one is congratulating a mother they say:

Akaana kakulike!

“Congratulations upon being delivered of a baby!”

Akaana
a	ka	ana
IV	12DIM	child
N

kakulike
ka	kulik	e
12AGR	congratulate	SBJV
V

Kababby kakulike

“Congratulations upon your birth”

Kababby
ka	babby
12DIM	babby
N

kakulike
ka	kulik	e
12AGR	congratulate	SBJV
V

References

Booij, G.(2005) The Grammar of Words: An Introduction (2nd edn). Oxford University Press: UK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutive

Kačmárová, Alena. A short survey of Diminutives in Slovak and English