Introduction
The formation of hypocoristics by way of expressive derivation is one of the most productive word coinage processes to manifest in Australian English (AusE) during the twentieth century (Kidd et al., 2011). As such, there is a need for linguists to revisit these processes to provide an observable overall perspective of the dynamics of AusE hypocoristic coinage over time. This is a brief analysis of six hypocoristics used in AusE; defs/definitely, totes/totally, whatevs/whatever, peeps/people, obvs/obviously, adorbs/adorable which make use of the “slang -s” suffix (McCumber, 2010). The overview begins with an analysis of the morphophonological properties of the aforementioned words, followed by a brief consideration of the meanings of the derived words.
Morphophonological analysis
For this analysis, the two allophones of the -s suffix examined are [s] and [z]. The selection of the allophone is determined by the voicing phonemic feature of the preceding phone, which must also have the +consonantal phonetic feature. This is distinct when compared with the most common AusE hypocoristic -ie and -o forms where suffix selection is governed by the base form length (Kidd et al., 2011). In -s hypocoristics, the stressed syllable is always retained from the base form in the first syllable of the derived word. From the selected words, however, there are two exceptions to this; the base form whatever is a compound word and the derived hypocoristic whatevs retains the two stressed syllables (one from each word what and ever); the other exception is in adorbs and although the analysis carried out by the author of this essay lacks the scope to closely evaluate this anomaly, Simpson (2004) notes that this is likely because the first syllable is short, unstressed and open, hence it is retained along with the next syllable which is stressed. Another interesting anomaly is the consonant cluster which reduces the efficiency of articulation in obvs. In reducing articulatory efficiency and including the onset of the second syllable, ambiguity is avoided in recognising which base form word* (obviously) is being replaced with a hypocoristic (McCumber, 2010).
Table 1 demonstrates that the -s hypocoristic suffix is unproductive with regular nouns because it is blocked by the -s plural inflectional suffix; the base form of peeps is the irregular noun plural, people which accounts for this exception (McCumber, 2010). As presented in Table 1, -ie diminutives and hypocoristics contain two syllables (irrespective of the number of syllables in the base form), the latter of the two being the -ie morpheme itself (Kidd et al., 2011). If the base form only has one syllable then for it to undergo -ie derivation, the number of syllables must increase to accommodate the addition of the -ie suffix.
Semantic analysis
When compared with regular -ie diminutives, AusE -s and -ie hypocoristics appear to serve a practical function of abbreviation i.e., at the minimum they do not increase the number of syllables from the base form. There is more happening here though, the hypocoristic and diminutive -s and -ie suffixes perform a lexical function on the base form which alters the meaning. For regular -ie diminutives, e.g., birdie: the meaning alteration adds connotations which imply a sense of smallness and a sense of childishness (i.e., this would be a word used when talking to children) which the base form lacks (Goddard and Wierzbicka, 2008). Consider this example of saltwater crocodiles, which are broadly referred to as “salties” in Northern Australia. Saltwater crocodiles grow up to seven metres in length, weigh as much as 1.2 metric tons and are vicious, apex predators (Pearce, 2016).
(1)** Salties are extremely territorial and will compete fiercely with other crocs.
A connotation is added to the meaning in saltie which implies the size is “not big” although clearly, seven meters is big. Not only is there a meaning alternation with regards to the perceived size of the crocodile but also there is an air of nonchalant familiarity added to the meaning, with an animal that most Australians have never seen in person. This example clearly demonstrates that there is a distinct meaning difference between regular -ie diminutives and AusE -ie diminutives. This distinction in meaning regarding the perception of size and attitude allows AusE diminutives to function not only as a diminutive but also as a hypocoristic.
The AusE hypocoristic -s suffix also performs a meaning alteration to the base form meaning as does the AusE hypocoristic -ie suffix, i.e., it adds extra meaning that is not present in the base form. The following examples demonstrate that the meaning change is related to the attitude of the speaker, specifically one of familiarity, that the speaker feels comfortable and familiar enough with the audience to use an informal style of speech (Kidd et al., 2011). This informal style is normally punctuated with other forms of abbreviations and deletions which are not acceptable in formal styles of speech.
(2) a.*** if you wanna rap or sing over the top that’s totes cool too.
b.**** If you want to rap or sing over the top, that is totally cool too.
(3) a.***** obvs more cos they at 22’s
b. Obviously more because they are at 22’s.
Conclusion
In summation, this terse analysis has affirmed that AusE hypocoristics are distinct from regular hypocoristics in English. Hypocoristics are used in informal styles of speech and are marked at a phrasal level by other abbreviations and deletions. The form of AusE hypocoristics and diminutives are impacted by many morphophonological linguistic constraints of AusE, including voicing, stress syllable selection, inflectional morphology blocks, suffix selection processes and articulation efficiency compromise for clarity. The use of hypocoristics indicates a style change to a situational (informal) dialect. The hypocoristic clipped base forms sustain no meaning loss but gain meaning from suffixation; the added meaning contained within the suffix is reflected as an attitudinal change in the speaker. Hypocoristics are a dynamic category of words that interest and amuse speakers and linguists alike and for these reasons will continue to be widely used and studied.
* In English, words that begin with the consonant cluster ‘obv’ number in the tens, of these words ‘obvious’ is the most commonly used as compared with over one thousand words that begin with ‘ob’.
** This example is from the internet, as follows:
[http://www.katherinetimes.com.au/story/4142361/salties-a-critter-to-be-respected/, accessed 15/09/17].
*** This example is from the internet, as follows:
[https://www.triplejunearthed.com/competition/play-school-remix, accessed 15/09/17].
**** This is the more formal version of a. intended to demonstrate other abbreviations and deletions which commonly occur in informal speech styles along-side AusE -s hypocoristics.
***** This example is from the internet, as follows:
[https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/ignition-orange-sv6-svsikz.172813/page-2, accessed 15/09/17].
References
GODDARD, C. & WIERZBICKA, A. 2008. Universal human concepts as a basis for contrastive linguistic semantics. In: DE LOS ÁNGELES GÓMEZ GONZÁLEZ, M., MACKENZIE, J. L. & GONZÁLEZ ÁLVAREZ, E. M. (eds.) Current Trends in Contrastive Linguistics : Functional and cognitive perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
KIDD, E., KEMP, N. & QUINN, S. 2011. Did you have a choccie bickie this arvo? A quantitative look at Australian hypocoristics. Language Sciences, 33, 359-368.
MCCUMBER, V. 2010. -s: The latest slang suffix, for reals. Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle of the University of Victoria, 20, 124-130.
PEARCE, C. 2016. The Katherine Times.
SIMPSON, J. 2004. Hypocoristics in Australian English. Scopus, 2, 643-656.