Diminution in Arabic: A suggested strategy to Mona Baker's non-equivalence problem “differences in form"

Abstract

The study aimed at looking into the phenomenon of diminution in Arabic language as compared to affixes in English language in terms of structure and meaning. The study also investigates the relevance of diminutives in Arabic language to the problem of “differences in form” that Mona Baker discusses in her influential book, in Other Words. Baker argues that Arabic, among other languages, lacks a ready mechanism to overcome this equivalence problem of differences in form such as suffixes and prefixes at word level. By reference to benchmark books written by founding grammarians of Arabic language grammar and morphology as well as to recent relevant studies, the study concludes that diminutives in Arabic language possess a semantic and an aesthetic value and exhibit a host of meanings such as smallness, reduction, belittlement, endearment, approximation (time, distance), pity, and gentleness. Further, the study recommends that diminutive forms be incorporated as a strategy proposed to overcome the problem of differences in form, at some instances.