Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Intro
Michael: What are diminutives and how are they formed in Swahili?
Gertrude: And are they commonly used?
Michael: At SwahiliPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Julia Mogaka points out a cute kitten to her daughter, Joyce Mogaka. She says,
"Look at the kitten!"
Julia Mogaka: Angalia kipaka!
Dialogue
Julia Mogaka: Angalia kipaka!
Joyce Mogaka: Anavutia!
Michael: Once more with the English translation.
Julia Mogaka: Angalia kipaka!
Michael: "Look at the kitten!"
Joyce Mogaka: Anavutia!
Michael: "How cute!"

Lesson focus
Michael: In this lesson, we will learn about Swahili diminutives, or
Gertrude: Hali ya udogo
Michael: A diminutive is a prefix that is attached to a noun to make it seem smaller, cuter, or just more fragile than it usually is. It can be used to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. You can see this idea in nicknames when speaking to small children, or expressing tenderness to an adult. In English, we often make diminutives by shortening names - for example, saying ‘Dan' instead of ‘Daniel'. We also use diminutive words like ‘bunny' instead of ‘rabbit' when we want to express affection and charm. But how are diminutives formed in Swahili?
[Recall 1]
Michael: Let us take a closer look at the dialogue.
Do you remember how Julia Mogaka says "Look at the kitten!"
Gertrude as Julia: Angalia kipaka!
Michael: Notice how Julia says ‘kitten'
Gertrude: kipaka
Michael: instead of ‘cat'
Gertrude: paka
Michael: Julia has added a
Gertrude: ki
Michael: prefix in order to make the diminutive form of ‘cat'.
It makes sense, then, that Joyce responds with "How cute!"
Gertrude: Anavutia!
Michael: That is just one way to respond to something cute in Swahili!
To form a diminutive, we add a prefix to the noun. Diminutives take prefixes from the
Gertrude: ki
Michael: noun class for singular nouns, and the
Gertrude: vi
Michael: class for plural nouns.
Which nouns can be made into diminutives, then? Well, they can come from any noun class except the
Gertrude: pa
Michael: and
Gertrude: ku
Michael: classes, or abstract nouns from the
Gertrude: u
Michael: class. However, only some of these nouns can actually be made into diminutives. It is difficult to determine which can and which cannot, but you will get a feeling for it once you get a bit more advanced in Swahili.
When a noun becomes a diminutive, it will then belong to the
Gertrude: ki / vi
Michael: class and follow the agreement rules for this class. This is true even if the nouns involved belong to animate things like people, animals or insects. Here is an example:
Gertrude: chungwa langu
Michael: This means ‘my orange'. The diminutive form sounds like this:
Gertrude: kitunda changu
Michael: which means ‘my little orange'.
[Summary]
Michael: In this lesson, you learned that Swahili diminutives are expressive prefixes that emphasize small size or cuteness.
Expansion
There are five rules for making nouns into the diminutive form, so let us look at those!
The first rule is, start by removing the noun's class prefix. You will be left with the base noun. If this base noun has two or more syllables, you must add the
Gertrude: ki
Michael: prefix to make a singular diminutive noun. If you want to make a plural diminutive noun, you must add the
Gertrude: vi
Michael: prefix.
Take the Swahili word ‘hand' as an example:
Gertrude: mkono
Michael: To make the diminutive, first remove the
Gertrude: m
Michael: prefix, and replace it with a
Gertrude: ki
Michael: prefix, and you will get the word
Gertrude: kikono
Michael: "small hand." To make the plural, which is "small hands," you add a
Gertrude: vi
Michael: prefix.
Gertrude: vikono
Michael: If the noun has no prefix to start with, simply add the
Gertrude: ki
Michael: prefix to singular nouns, or the
Gertrude: vi
Michael: prefix to plural nouns. We will use the word "fly" to illustrate this:
Gertrude: inzi
Michael: This noun does not have a prefix, so to make a diminutive, you add the prefix
Gertrude: ki
Michael: and you will get
Gertrude: kiinzi
Michael: which is a "small fly." For the plural, add the prefix
Gertrude: vi
Michael: and you will get
Gertrude: viinzi
Michael: meaning "small flies."
The second rule is, if a base noun has only one syllable after you have removed its prefix, you will add the
Gertrude: ki
Michael: prefix to make a singular diminutive noun, and the
Gertrude: vi
Michael: prefix to make a plural noun. There is more, though! Both the singular and the plural will also receive a
Gertrude: ji
Michael: infix. An infix goes into the middle of a word. A great example is the word "tree:"
Gertrude: mti
Michael: To talk about a smaller tree, or even a stick, we say
Gertrude: kijiti
Michael: Can you hear how Gertrude has not only added a
Gertrude: ki
Michael: prefix, but also a
Gertrude: ji
Michael: infix? Let us listen to the plural form:
Gertrude: vijiti
Michael: You can also apply this rule to nouns that start with a vowel once the prefix has been removed. The only difference here is that the infix will be just a J, not a J- I.
Okay, let's continue with the third rule. This one is about nouns that already belong to the
Gertrude: ki / vi
Michael: class and start with the
Gertrude: ki
Michael: prefix, like the word for ‘bed':
Gertrude: kitanda
Michael: To make this word into a diminutive, just insert a
Gertrude: ji
Michael: infix between the prefix and the rest of the noun. You will then get
Gertrude: kijitanda
Michael: meaning ‘small bed'. And to create the plural, ‘small beds', simply change the prefix to V-I, like this:
Gertrude: vijitanda
Let's move to rule number four. Sometimes when a noun becomes diminutive, it can carry a derogatory meaning. Listen to this sentence:
Gertrude: Kisichana kinasikia muziki.
Michael: This literally translates as ‘The small girl is listening to music', but depending on the context, it could also mean ‘The immature girl is listening to music'. Usually, the diminutive noun
Gertrude: kisichana
Michael: will just mean ‘small girl', but it can also be used to imply immaturity - especially if the girl you refer to is not actually a child!
Michael: Lastly, we have rule number five. Some diminutives can also take the infix
Gertrude: -ji-
Michael: to add an extra level of smallness. This can be used for derogatory effect, but it can also be used to convey a very pleasing connotation! Like in this sentence:
Gertrude: Kijiua kinanukia.
Michael: meaning ‘The delicate flower smells good'. The base word for ‘flower' is
Gertrude: ua
Michael: and ‘small flower' is
Gertrude: kiua
Michael: but Gertrude added an extra infix:
Gertrude: -ji-
Michael: which has the effect of describing a more delicate object. You might have noticed that Gertrude did not actually use the adjective ‘delicate'. That is okay! The meaning she wants to convey is clear when he uses the diminutive form of the noun.
As with all rules, there are a few exceptions. Some nouns can be made into diminutives without following the rules, but you will pick those up as you progress with Swahili.
Then, the KI / VI class nouns that start with the prefix C-H or V-Y are treated as regular disyllabic or polysyllabic nouns with no prefixes - as in the first rule.
Lastly, sometimes the prefix
Gertrude: ka
Michael: is used instead of the K-I prefix. A typical example of this is
Gertrude: Katoto kazuri
Michael: which means ‘a small nice child'.

Outro
Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them!
Gertrude: Kwaheri!
Michael: See you soon!

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