Size matters: Grammaticalization; metaphor; and the Spanish diminutive

Abstract

Cognitive linguistics has brought to the forefront the notion that metaphorical conceptualization plays a most important role in the structuring of grammatical categories. The present article analyzes size metaphors involved in the structuring of the category diminutive in Spanish; for instance; CATEGORY CENTRALITY IS (A SCALE OF) SIZE and MARGINAL IS SMALL (Cf. Jurafsky; 1996). My analysis of the diminutive in Spanish suggests that its current multiplicity of functions reflects a process of grammaticalization which has resulted in the extension of its meaning from the domain of physical size to increasingly abstract contexts. Metaphor is shown to have played a crucial role in this process; as well as semantic-pragmatic mechanisms such as the conventionalization of inferences or implicatures. In addition; a brief comparison of the category diminutive in English and Spanish is also presented as well as some examples of the application of the present analysis to the translation of diminutives from Spanish to English.