Usos de diminutivos en los actos de habla directivo-volitivos

This paper analyses the morphopragmatic functions of Spanish diminutives in requests, demands and commands, based on a study of language material obtained from the parallel corpus InterCorp. Following Dressler – Merlini Barbaresi’s (1994) model, we determine the main reasons for the use of diminutives and compare the state of affairs in Spanish with Czech. As a result of this analysis we have been able to single out two main functions of diminutives in the constructions analysed – the mitigation of the illocutionary force of a command or request, and the specifying function that helps the hearer to understand the extent of the speaker’s demand. We also conclude that the (semi)lexicalized character of a concrete diminutive may favour the specifying interpretation; nevertheless, in many cases it does not impede a morphopragmatic (mitigating) interpretation either.