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Greek Diminutive Use Problematized: Gender, Culture and Common Sense

Aristotle Universitymmakrits{at}enl.auth.gr

This survey of extensive authentic data attempts to chart the use of diminutives in the context of the Greek culture, within which women are commonsensically constructed as the expected users. Qualitative analysis carried out within a Conversation Analysis-plus- membership categorization device(MCDs) framework focuses on instances when diminutives are explicitly and variously problematized as category-bound activities/utterances by competent members sharing common sense knowledge or culture. Asubsequent quantitative screening also yields a comparable pattern of diminutive use, with men surprisingly emerging as heavier users than women, who are shown to serve as the primary recipients. The cultural propensity for ‘verbal laxity’ and prevailing ‘markedness’ of femininity are then combined to explain both diminutive functions as well as expectations informing common sense knowledge about gendered diminutive use.

Key Words: Conversation Analysis • diminutives • familiarity • gender • Greek culture • MCDs • metalinguistic hedges • verbal laxity

Discourse & Society, Vol. 14, No. 6, 699-726 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/09579265030146002


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