Typology and evolution of diminutives in the Kikongo Language Cluster Universiteit Gent
This article proposes both a typology of the variation which languages of the Kikongo Language Cluster (KLC) manifest in terms of diminutive marking and a reconstruction of how this variation evolved through time. The high diversity of diminutives within this low‑level Bantu subgroup parallels the variation documented for the entire Bantu family. The three main strategies, each with their own subtypes, are (1) noun class prefix marking (either ...