COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DIMINUTIVES IN FRENCH AND SPANISH

Abstract

The authors of the article present a comparative analysis of diminutives in Spanish and French. The purpose of this work is to analyze the formation of diminutives and compare their use and meaning in two Romance languages. Diminutives are the characteristic feature of the Romance languages. The main objective of the study is to identify similarities and differences in the use of diminutives in the studied languages. The contrast study, which makes it possible to identify cross-cultural patterns, determines the relevance of this work. The most productive way to form diminutives in Spanish is suffixation. French is prone to analytical diminutives. Cases of lexicalization (transformation of diminutives into neutral units) are also noted in both languages. The results of the study can be applied in the practice of teaching foreign languages at universities (French and Spanish) focusing on different variants of the Spanish language, as well as in translation activities.