A semantic and phonological comparison of the diminutive marker in Vietnamese and those in the Min dialects of China
越南语与闽语小称：语意及语音的对比分析
Feng-fu Tsao 曹逢甫; Quang Ngọc Kim 李金玉; Thu Hà Trần Thị 陈氏秋河

Abstract 摘要
In this paper we attempt to study the diminutive word con ‘offspring’ in Vietnamese based on the grammaticalization and phonological cycle involving the diminutive words in Min dialects. The original meaning of con is ‘offspring’ (con trai ‘sons’, con gái ‘daughters’); then its use was generalized to cover the young of an animal (heo con ‘ a little pig’, bò con ‘a calf’, cá con ‘a small fish’ ) and then it was further expanded to cover some small-sized plants (con rau ‘a tender shoot’). From the above meanings, con continued to expand its use as a diminutive word to refer to small-sized things, the relatives, and finally it becomes a noun-marker. Along the way, some diminutive words marked by con also picked up attitudinal meanings such as liking or disliking. Phonetically, con just has the first two stages. The affix can be reduced to [ɔŋ] or [ŋ] just like its counterpart in some of Min dialects. For example, in southern and middle Vietnam, when people say Nhìn con heo con kia dễ thương chưa kìa ‘Look! The little pig is so cute,’ the noun marker (prefix) is often reduced from [kɔŋ] to [ɔŋ] or [ŋ]. Through concrete examples of Vietnamese con, we would demonstrate preliminarily that the notion of grammaticalization cycle with some modification can be applied in the description of the changes that took place in the evolution of the diminutive marker con in Vietnamese.

本文以小称词语法化轮回的架构研究越南语的小称词“con”。 “con”本义为“孩子” (con trai ‘儿子’、con gái ‘女儿’)，接着泛指到动物后代(heo con ‘小猪’、 bò con ‘小牛’、cá con ‘小鱼’ )及小型植物(con rau ‘嫩芽’) 。后来“con”变成小称词，可用来指细小的物体或亲属称谓，最后则变成名词标志。有些带“con”的小称词并有喜好或厌恶的感情色彩。“con” 的语音演变只有两个阶段，可缩减为[ɔŋ]或[ŋ]词缀。例如在越南中部及南部，当人们说Nhìn con heo con kia dễ thương chưa kìa (你看！这只小猪多可爱啊！)时，多数情况下名词标志(前缀)会由[kɔŋ]缩减为[ɔŋ]或[ŋ]。藉由越南语“con”的具体例证，我们归结仅需小幅的修正，语法化轮回的架构便可用来描述越南语小称标志“con”的演化过程。

Subject Keywords 关键词

Diminutive 小称 Vietnamese 越南语 Min dialects 闽语 Grammaticalization cycle 语法化轮回

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