Hypocoristics in the Ammani-Jordanian context: A Construction Morphology perspective

Abstract

The current study explores the patterns of hypocoristics in Ammani-Jordanian Arabic in view of Construction Morphology. The most common hypocoristic patterns are addressed with reference to the social factors (gender and age) that may contribute to the templates and functions of the hypocoristic structure. This paper argues that Ammani-Jordanian Arabic speakers produce various hypocoristic patterns to signify a variety of functions. A questionnaire is designed to explore the formation of hypocoristic patterns among 51 Ammani Jordanians from three different age groups (children, young and elderly). The study shows that the most common hypocoristic pattern used by all participants includes reduplication, truncation, affixation, and adding Ɂabu “father of” and ʔum “mother of” to the male and female names, respectively. The study also reveals how these processes can be used to form hypocoristics of different name types (monosyllabic names, disyllabic names, nonce names, compound names, foreign names, etc.). We also show that the hypocoristic templates may vary according to the gender of the name. The current findings help foreign learners of Arabic to better comprehend the Jordanian culture, including the use of hypocoristics.

Keywords:

• Ammani-Jordanian Arabic
• Construction Morphology
• morphological schema
• hypocoristics
• diminutives

1. Introduction

Hypocoristic names (nicknames) refer to a shortened version of a name or a word used with terms of endearment, pet names, or fondling endings (Newman & Ahmad, 1992). They also reflect the affection of the speaker and the diminutive nature of the referent (Obeng, 1997). Cross-linguistically, a hypocoristic name takes place using different word-formation processes such as truncation/shortening as in (1a) and (1b), suffixation as in (1c), reduplication as in (1d), truncation plus suffixation as (1e) and (1 f).

Table

(1)	a	/karolin/→[karo]	French	(Nelson, 1998)
	b	/katerína/→ [rína]	Italian	(Halicki, 2008)
	c	/tíkva/ → [tíkva-le]	Hebrew	(Bat-El, 2005)
	d	/kulù/→ [kulùulu]	Hausa	(Newman & Ahmad, 1992)
	e	/isiɡaki/ → [ɡakk-i:]	Japanese	(Tanaka & Jun, 2013)
	f	/menáxem/ → [mén-i]	Hebrew	(Bat-El, 2005)

Hypocoristization may involve more complex word-formation processes. In Akan, hypocoristics are formed by morphological and morphophonological processes including compounding and reduplication (along with prolonging the phonic and syllabic unit), deletion, tonal change, and vowel harmony, as in kúùkúlá (a feminine day-name for people born on Wednesday) which is formed “by reduplicating [ku], prolonging the [u] vowel of the prefix, and affixing the final syllable” (Obeng, 1997, p. 45). In Greek, multiple hypocoristic forms can be derived from one name; for example, the name Alexandros has the following hypocoristic forms: Alex, Alexis, Alekos, and Alekakos (Leibring, 2016). In Spanish, some hypocoristic names require further simplification and stem modification via truncation of the first consonant(s) and reduplication of the remaining consonant as in Adolpho/Rodolpho → /fofo/ (Lipski, 1995, p. 392).

Cross-culturally, hypocoristics have various characteristics and perform many functions when used in particular contexts. Forming hypocoristics in Australia and New Zealand maintains relationships with people either when forming them as variations of slang, humour or pet names, as in boss-cockie for “a farmer, larger than a Cockatoo who employs other labour as well as working himself” (Bardsley & Simpson, 2009, p. 53), swaggie for swagman, and Tassy for Tasmania, respectively (Bardsley & Simpson, 2009). As part of the Australian ethos, Australian hypocoristics add the suffix -ie to a truncated form of the base word such as mozzies “mosquitoes”, sunnies “sunglasses”, or mushies “mushrooms” which function differently from their typical role as diminutives. They reveal a love of informality, good humour rather than endearment and jocular cynicism (Wierzbicka, 2009).

In addition, Spanish hypocoristics are found in children’s language and in adults’ intentional simplifications when speaking to children (Lipski, 1995).¹ Among the seven types of hypocoristization in Hausa produced distinctly and for different purposes, one type of hypocorism is chiefly produced by females talking to children, and it expresses endearment and tenderness (Newman & Ahmad, 1992).² In another type of hypocoristics in Hausa, females use it to signify warmth, affection, diminutiveness, and respect (Newman & Ahmad, 1992).³ Intriguingly, hypocoristics in Akan are also used in contexts other than between equals and close people. They are used between superior-to-subordinate contexts as well as subordinate-to-superior contexts. However, communicative rules in Akan are strictly enforced to mark age, gender, social class, etc. For instance, it is common for a social inferior to address a respectable superior as “Papa Koo Nimo” or “Agya Koo Gyasi”. In this context, Papa “father” is used for someone you respect like your father. The same applies to Agya “father” for someone with the exact status as the speaker’s father (Obeng, 1997). Nevertheless, in case a hypocoristic form was not preceded by a polite word or expression, it would express disrespect towards the superior referent (Obeng, 1997). Given this overview, and due to their unpredictable morphophonological patterns, investigating hypocoristics has become a major area of interest within the field of linguistics.

2. Theoretical background /hypocoristics in Semitic languages

A considerable amount of literature has been published on Semitic hypocoristics (e.g., Abu-Mansour, 2010; Bat-El, 1994; Davis & Zawaydeh, 2001; Zawaydeh & Davis, 1999). Most of these studies have analyzed the formation of hypocoristics within two theories: Optimality theory and word-based theory of morphology. This section considers three aspects of hypocoristics: the morphology of hypocoristics in Semitic languages, an overview of previous accounts of hypocoristics across Arabic dialects, and a brief on Construction Morphology, a theory of morphology developed by Booij (2010, 2016) and is employed in the analysis of hypocoristics in the present study. Then, a discussion of previous accounts of Arabic hypocoristics is provided.

2.1. The morphology of hypocoristics in Semitic languages

Morphologically, there are two viewpoints on the status of the consonantal root across Semitic languages. Some linguists argue for the morphemic status of the consonantal root (e.g., Prunet, 1998), while others working on Hebrew or Arabic deny this view (e.g., (Bat-El, 1994; Ratcliffe, 1997), as cited in Davis and Zawaydeh (2001). For instance, Bat-El (1994) and Ussishkin (1999) argued that Modern Hebrew denominal verb formation does not explicitly reference the consonantal root. Moreover, the study on Arabic hypocoristics that adopt a stem-based view, as analysed by Davis and Zawaydeh (2001), or a word-based view of morphology, such as Ratcliffe (1997) and Benmamoun (1999), gives little weight to the special status of the consonantal root. Both accounts suggest that Arabic verbal morphology depends on words rather than consonantal roots. While Benmamoun speculates that some parts of Arabic morphology may necessitate the use of a consonantal root, Ratcliffe (1997) flatly opposes this idea. Ratcliffe (1997) claims that consonantal root operations can be phonologically described as sonority through operations.

2.2. An overview of previous accounts of Arabic hypocoristics across dialects

In a study on the formation of hypocoristics in colloquial Arabic depending on word-based theories of morphology, Davis and Zawaydeh (2001) present data to support their argument that Arabic hypocoristic formation “is an example of an output-to-output word-formation process that references the consonantal root” (Davis & Zawaydeh, 2001, p. 514). Data such as “dja:na: dajju:n” are provided to prove that it does not matter if “the consonant in the full name is an onset, coda, singleton, or geminate,” because the root consonant is the only critical element for its appearance in the hypocoristic. In this example, the hypocoristic formation makes a “reference to the consonantal root as it appears in the prosodified full name and thus reflects an output-to-output derivation” (Davis & Zawaydeh, 2001, p. 516).

Abu-Mansour (2010) addresses the failure of names related to glide-medial and glide-final roots to form the hypocoristic formation C₁aC₂C₂u:C₃ in Makkan Arabic. The issue is that medial glides /w/ and /j/ have dual behaviour. For instance, if the medial glide of the root is /w/, the name fails to take the hypocoristic pattern C₁aC₂C₂u:C₃, but in hypocoristic nouns with a medial glide /j/, it successfully forms it. It is argued that Makkan Arabic speakers produce one pattern of hypocoristic formation with two manifestations, pattern I /C₁aC₂C₂u:C₃/ and pattern II /C₁aC₂C₂u/, in which an alternative explanation of the failure of glide-medial and glide-final roots to form /C₁aC₂C₂u:C₃/ hypocoristics is presented (Abu-Mansour, 2010). Depending on the OCP as a constraint in Arabic phonology, it is revealed that “the glide-medial roots continue to fail to form Pattern I hypocoristics” as the name zakijja: its root is /zkj/, *zakku:j fails as a hypocoristic, while Pattern II tends to avoid this violation of the OCP (Abu-Mansour, 2010, p. 31).

As far as Jordanian Arabic is concerned, Zawaydeh and Davis (1999) provided the first account of hypocoristic formation in this dialect. Their study examines only one disyllabic pattern of hypocoristics that has the shape: CVC. CVVC(V), where the first vowel is /a/ and the second is long /u:/ (dja:na “Dyana [prober name]” /djn/: dajju:n(e)). The researchers mainly focus on problematic examples and explain their singularity as having different patterns or reflecting other constraints. Moreover, they argue that Arabic hypocoristics refer to an output root of the full name that is different from the input lexical root of the same name, and that “root consonants can be referred to in output- output constraints” proving that this phenomenon is essential for understanding the unusual language games and speech errors reported in Arabic (Zawaydeh & Davis, 1999, p. 136).

Drawing on Davis and Zawaydeh’s (1999) tenets, Farwaneh (2007) presents other hypocoristic examples to challenge the morphemic status of the root as well as the assumption of a hypocoristic morpheme. The hypocoristics considered in her study are derived from hollow (glide-medial) roots, weak (glide-final), and reduplicated hypocoristics. The researcher offers a word-based analysis of hypocoristics within both Optimality Theory and Correspondence Theory as the latter provides an “account for all types of hypocoristics considered: geminated wallu:d, affixed mannu:l partially reduplicated farfu:ħ, totally reduplicated zanzu:n or marked with final spreading dallu:l” (Farwaneh, 2007, p. 47). The researcher concludes that as a morphological entity, the root is not necessary nor sufficient since it fails to set the aforementioned types of hypocoristics in one framework (Farwaneh, 2007).

2.3. Construction Morphology

Construction Morphology is a theory of morphology developed by Booij (2010, 2016) that is concerned with how new words of a certain type can be formed to illustrate the different phonological and morphological processes involved in word formation. The following schema (from Booij, 2017) represents the form-meaning correlation of the morphological constructions for a verbal base like dance, walk or sing followed by the suffix -er, and shows its corresponding systematic meaning pattern “one who Vs”, where V stands for the meaning of the verb.

(2) < [[x]_Vi er]_Nj ↔ [Agent of SEM_i]_j>

This way of accounting for morphological patterns has been developed in the theory of Construction Morphology as outlined in Booij (2010). In this schema, the angled brackets identify the constructional schema. The variable x represents the phonological content of the base word. The relationship between form and meaning is specified by the coindexation. The index i indicates that the meaning of the base word (SEM) recurs in that of the corresponding complex word. The index j is used to show that the meaning of the construction correlates with the form as a whole. The double arrow indicates the correlation between form and meaning.

In addition to accounting for the different phonological and morphological processes involved in word formation, Construction Morphology could help to illustrate the mapping between form and meaning in different contexts by using constructional schemas, i.e., schematic representations of morphological constructions. Thus, it could reduce the degree of arbitrariness between form and meaning. According to this approach, once language speakers have been exposed to a large set of words that belong to a certain type (hypocoristics in our case), they figure out the abstract morphological patterns that they will use later to form new words of that type in different contexts. While previous accounts of hypocoristics have mainly focused on the formation of hypocoristics and left out meaning, Construction Morphology includes aspects of form and meaning and could therefore be a complete theory for hypocoristics.

2.4. This study

The study of hypocoristics in the Jordanian Arabic-speaking context is important for many reasons. Awareness of hypocoristics in a language boosts its overall performance. Moreover, sociolinguistic aspects of hypocoristics are essential, especially for people from different socio-cultural/dialectal backgrounds and for foreign learners. Because attitudes towards the different uses of a language in different societies may be either positive or negative (Bayyurt, 2013), being aware of the sociolinguistic factors in cross-cultural communication is very essential to achieve positive socio-pragmatic knowledge. Accordingly, a foreign learner might use a hypocoristic in an inappropriate context, thus reflecting disrespect for others, especially when addressing elderly people or in the context of superiors’ interaction with subordinates. A hypocoristic name also plays a significant role in determining an individual’s identity and may even be more popular than their given name.

Moreover, hypocoristics are markers of in-group identity, and their use enhances social bonds, so a foreign speaker should be aware of using hypocoristics in their appropriate contexts, trying to share cultural heritage between speakers. Kidd et al. (2016) demonstrated that “linguistic convergence is associated with the social closeness between speakers” (p. 727). They found that using hypocoristics within the same social group results in convergence, while using them with an out-group person results in divergence, just as communication accommodation theory suggests (Ayoko et al., 2002).

In the Jordanian Arabic context, each name can have one or more hypocoristic forms with different morphological and phonological processes. Sociolinguistically, hypocoristics indicate either a positive or a negative connotation when used in specific contexts. Given the above, the present study aims to explore the patterns of hypocoristics in Jordanian Arabic.⁴ Specifically, the current study investigates the most common patterns of hypocoristics used by three different age groups (children, young and elderly). The study aims to contribute to previous literature by investigating hypocoristic in the framework of Construction Morphology (Booij, 2010, 2016), which may present a potentially new avenue for hypocoristic research since, as mentioned earlier, Construction Morphology includes aspects of form and meaning and could therefore be considered a complete theory for hypocoristics.

The layout of the paper is as follows: the next section addresses the method and procedure of data collection. Then, the paper presents data on the most common hypocoristic patterns used by three different age groups in Ammani-Jordanians (children, young and elderly) and displays how these groups produce different hypocoristic patterns for the same name. Furthermore, the paper discusses how the produced hypocoristic patterns achieve certain purposes as either to show intimacy, endearment, humour, or respect. The last section concludes with implications and some recommendations for future research.

3. Method and procedure

3.1. Participants

The participants of this study were 51 native speakers of Ammani-Jordanian Arabic (23 males and 28 females) divided into three different age groups: 17 children aged: (8–14); 18 young aged (16–58); and 16 elderly aged 60- above. The participants had no history of hearing or speech disorders. The appendix includes a detailed table of the participants’ demographic profiles. Participants were asked to voluntarily be part of this study, and they were assured that their names will be kept anonymous and that they have the choice to discontinue the oral questionnaire anytime.

3.2. Materials

The current study used an oral questionnaire designed by the researchers and confirmed by a specialist to ensure validity. The questionnaire measured and evaluated the formation of hypocoristic patterns among Ammani-Jordanian Arabic speakers. Since it was an oral questionnaire, it consisted of one main question asked to the participants after explaining the aim of this research to investigate the differences in hypocoristics formation. Seventeen names were selected for this paper and divided into the following types: 1. monosyllabic names category that includes two common names and one nonce name; 2. disyllabic names category that involves four common names and one nonce name; 3. compound names that have four names; and 4. foreign names category that involves three names. The ratio of male names to female ones is 1:1.6 (8 male names and 5 female names).

3.3. Procedures

After being self-selected, each participant was met individually in a quiet room to limit the interventions and told that the questionnaire concerns knowing the hypocoristic patterns used in Ammani-Jordanian Arabic; each session took a maximum of 15 minutes. To obtain naturally occurring data, children were interviewed by their parents/legal guardians. They explained the idea of the research to their children with some examples, then they asked them to form one hypocoristic for each given name. Children’s sessions lasted more than the time determined (20–25 minutes on average) as their parents had to explain to them the process more than once. Strict confidentiality was assured, and instructions were given to the participants on how to answer the questionnaire orally. They were asked to give one hypocoristic form for each name. All responses were recorded using a smartphone microphone (Android, Samsung Galaxy A21s). Data were then stored in a compressed file on the same smartphone. The data were transcribed using IPA symbols by the researchers and double-checked by a phonetician. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 26 (IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA). To guarantee accuracy, the researchers ran a descriptive analysis of frequencies to examine the difference in producing different hypocoristics of the same name by different age groups. The data were discussed and interpreted in the light of the Construction Morphology schemas (Booij, 2010, 2016) which make it possible to express generalizations about hypocoristic forms and meaning.

4. Results and discussion

This paper focuses on five types of names, i.e., Arabic monosyllabic names, disyllabic names, nonce names, compound names, and foreign names. The outcome hypocoristic patterns are discussed accordingly. To start with the monosyllabic Arabic names, Tables 1 (a-c) present the hypocoristic patterns produced by the participants for the selected monosyllabic common names nu:r and ʒu:d and the nonce monosyllabic name nu:s by age group.

Table 1. (a) Number and percentage of hypocoristics of monosyllabic names produced by the children group (n = 17)⁵

nu:r							ʒu:d							nu:s
Hypocoristic	No			%			Hypocoristic	No			%			Hypocoristic		No			%
nu:nu:	9			52.9			ʒu:ʒu:	11			64.7			nu:nu:		9			52.9
nu:na:	4			23.5			ʒu:ʒ	4			23.5			nusti:		5			29.4
nu:ra	2			11.8			ʒu:du	1			5.9			nu:si:		2			11.8
nanru:ʃ	1			5.9			ʒu:di:	1			5.9			nasnu:sti:		1			5.9
nurnur	1			5.9
(1b). Number and percentage of hypocoristics of monosyllabic names produced by the young group (n = 18)
nu:r							ʒu:d							nu:s
Hypocoristic		No			%		Hypocoristic		No			%		Hypocoristic				No			%
nu:nu:		14			77.7		ʒu:ʒu:		13			72.2		nu:nu:				8			44.3
nu:ra		2			11.1		ʒu:di:		3			16.7		nusnus				4			22.2
nu:rti:		1			5.6		ʒu:ʒ		2			11.1		nu:sa				2			11.1
nuwwa:ra		1			5.6									nannu:sa				1			5.6
														nu:sti:				1			5.6
														nu:si:				1			5.6
														nanu:s				1			5.6
(1c). Number and percentage of hypocoristics of monosyllabic names produced by the elderly group (n = 16)
nu:r							ʒu:d								nu:s
Hypocoristic			No			%	Hypocoristic			No			%		Hypocoristic		No			%
ʔum el-nu:r:			7			43.8	ʔabu -el-ʒu:d			7			43.8		ʔabu-n-nu:s		5			31.2
nuwwa:ra			4			25	ʒu:ʒu:			5			31.2		ʔum-in-nu:s		4			25
nu:nu:			3			18.8	ʒu:di:			4			25		nu:nu:		3			18.8
nu:rti:			1			6.2									nu:si:		2			12.5
nu:ra			1			6.2									nu:sa		2			12.5

When viewing the hypocoristic forms of monosyllabic names in Tables 1 (a &b), it can be noticed that the most used form by the children and young participants is reduplicating the first CV or CV: for the common and the nonce monosyllabic names. For example, many participants tend to produce the hypocoristic form nu:nu: for nu:r (children: 52.9%, young: 77.7%) and ʒu:ʒu: for ʒu:d (children: 64.7%, young: 72.2%), which involves reduplicating the first CV: and omitting or truncating the final consonant; see, Davis and Zawaydeh (1999) for a similar dataset. This process is usually the first option for producing the hypocoristic name because it is easier for an individual to produce than a more complex alternative (e.g., nannu:ʃ for nu:r). The participants in the current study reported that this form indicates diminutive, intimacy and endearment. This reduplication pattern can be represented by the following schema in which the form is represented on the left-hand side of the schema and the meaning is specified on the right-hand side.

(3) < [C₁u:C₁u:]_i ↔ [diminutive, intimacy, endearment]_i>

As illustrated in Table 1 (c), the elderly group also uses the same process but less than the other groups (nu:nu: 18.8%, ʒu:ʒu: 31.2%). Instead, the most used form by this group is adding the term “Ɂabu” to the male name ʒu:d and the term “ʔum” to the female name nu:r, in addition to adding the definite article el- to the beginning of each name as follows “ʔum el-nu:r” (43.8%) and “ʔabu -el-ʒu:d” (43.8%). What is interesting is that this method is found to be used even with the nonce name nu:s. The results show that some elderly participants consider it as a male name and add “Ɂabu” to it (31.2%), whereas others assume that it is a female name and hence add the term “ʔum” instead (25%). This hypocoristic form is related to teknonymy that is used in Ammani-Jordanian Arabic, by which a person would be called the father/mother of his/her eldest male child out of respect. As a hypocoristic, this pattern is restricted to gender in that the term “Ɂabu” is associated with male names only, while the term “ʔum” is associated with female ones (for some details of the functions of such constructions as address terms in Jordanian contexts, see also Al-Khawaldeh et al., 2023). Using this pattern for hypocoristic formation indicates respect and appreciation for the receiver, as reported by the participants. The general schemas for these forms are as follows:

(4) < [Ɂabu el [x]_Ni]_Nj ↔ [masculine, respect and appreciation]_j >

(5) < [ʔum el [x]_Ni]_Nj ↔ [feminine, respect and appreciation]_j >

Another hypocoristic form illustrated in Tables 1 (a-c) and used by all the groups is the addition of the suffix -a (e.g., nu:ra), -u (e.g., ʒu:du), -i: (e.g., nu:si:), or ti: (e.g., nu:rti and nu:sti:) after the full name. The -i and ti suffixes are considered possessive suffixes when added to the full name (Prunet & Idrissi, 2014, p. 179) (as illustrated in 6). On the other hand, if they are added to a hypocoristic, as in nasnu:sti:, they express diminutive, as represented in (7). For details on the formation of diminutives in Ammani-Jordanian Arabic, read Mashaqba et al. (2022b). This was confirmed by the participants of the present study. It could also be noticed that the suffix -i appears after the male name ʒu:d, whereas the suffix -ti appears after the female name nu:r. This pattern is also used with the nonce name nu:s by all the age groups as some participants produce the form nu:si while others produced nu:sti:. On the other hand, the results of the current study show that the addition of the suffixes -a or -u to form hypocoristics in Ammani Arabic indicates tenderness and affection (see schema in 8).

(6) < [[x]_Ni -i, -ti]_Nj ↔ [possessive]_j>

(7) < [[C₁aC₂C₂u:C₃]_Ni—i,—ti]_Nj ↔ [diminutive, intimacy and endearment] _j>

(8) < [[x]_Ni -a, -u]_Nj ↔ [tenderness, affection] _j>

Tables 2 (a-c) display the hypocoristic patterns formed by each age group for the disyllabic common names xali:l and ʔasˁi:l and the nonce name xami:l.

Table 2. (a) Number and percentage of hypocoristics of disyllabic names produced by the children group (n = 17)

xali:l							ʔasˁi:l									xami:l
Hypocoristic	No					%	Hypocoristic		No				%			Hypocoristic	No			%
ʔabu-l-xill	7					41.2	ʔasˁu:l		8				47.1			amxam	6			35.3
xalu:l	6					35.3	sˁu:sˁu:		5				29.4			xami:lu	7			41.2
xalxu:l	3					17.6	sˁu:sˁi:		2				11.7			xu:xu:	2			11.7
xu:xu:	1					5.9	sˁalsˁal		1				5.9			xamu:l	1			5.9
							ʔasˁa:sˁi:l		1				5.9			xami:li	1			5.9
(2b). Number and percentage of hypocoristics of disyllabic names produced by the young group (n = 18)
xali:l								ʔasˁi:l							xami:l
Hypocoristic		No			%			Hypocoristic		No		%			Hypocoristic			No			%
xallu:l		6			33.3			Ɂabu ʔasˁi:l		5		27.8			xamxam			6			33.3
xillo		5			27.7			ʔabu-l-ʔasˁa:jel		4		22.2			xami:lo			6			33.3
ʔabu-l-xill		4			22.2			ʔasˁu:l		4		22.2			xu:xu:			3			16.6
xalxal		1			5.6			sˁu:sˁu:		2		11.1			xamu:le			1			5.6
ʔabu-l-xalajle		1			5.6			ʔasˁi:lo		2		11.1			xamxu:m			1			5.6
xali:lo:		1			5.6			ʔasˁsˁu:le		1		5.6			ʔabu-l-xama:jel			1			5.6
(2c). Number and percentage of hypocoristics of disyllabic names produced by the elderly group (n = 16)
xali:l								ʔasˁi:l							xami:l
Hypocoristic			No	%				Hypocoristic			No			%	Hypocoristic				No			%
ʔabu-l-xill			11	68.8				ʔabu-l-ʔasˁa:jil			9			56.3	ʔabu-l-xama:jil				8			50
ʔabu-l-xalajle			3	18.7				ʔasˁu:l			6			37.5	ʔabu elxami:l				4			25
xallu:l			2	12.5				ʔasˁi:lo:			1			6.2	xamxu:m				2			12.5
															xami:lu				2			12.5

The results presented in Tables 2 (a-c) show that all the age groups opt to form the hypocoristic pattern xallu:l and ʔasˁsˁu:l, in which the second consonant is being geminated and the long vowel /i:/ is changed into the long vowel /u:/ to form the hypocoristic pattern C₁aC₂C₂u:C₃ where the vowel melody is always /a/-/u:/, while the consonants coincide with those of the actual name. See below the rule for forming this pattern:

(9) < [C₁aC₂C₂u:C₃]_Ni ↔ [diminutive, love]_i>

Another common hypocoristic pattern among the three groups involves adding the term “Ɂabu” before the name and changing the name itself morphologically as in Ɂabu-l-xill for the name xali:l and Ɂabu-l-ʔasˁɑ:jil for the name ʔasˁi:l. As shown earlier (in schema 4), this type of hypocoristic pattern is also found in the responses of the monosyllabic names, but the difference is that the pattern with disyllabic names involves some morphological changes to the name itself (such as truncation, reduplication, or affixation). However, as the participants reported, the meaning connected with this form is still the same, i.e., respect and appreciation.

Moreover, the results in Tables 2 (a-c) indicate that reduplication is not limited only to monosyllabic Arabic names since many participants tend to reduplicate some parts of the disyllabic names to form its hypocoristic form, e.g., xu:xu:, xalxal, sˁu:sˁu:, sˁalsˁal. This also shows that the participants from all age groups tend to form the templatic shape [C₁uC₁u] for monosyllabic and disyllabic names. This indicates the high degree of productivity of this construction as it is believed that patterns that apply to a high number of items also tend to be highly applicable to new items (Bybee, 1985). Although this template applies only to the first consonant, forming the hypocoristic based on the second or the third consonant would result in an inappropriate hypocoristic (Davis & Zawaydeh, 1999). For instance, lu:lu: does not seem to be an appropriate hypocoristic for the name xali:l, neither does mu:mu: for the nonce name xami:m. This explains why none of the participants from any age group produced such a hypocoristic. However, in the name ʔasˁi:l, the first consonant is a glottal stop, so in this case the second consonant is used to form the hypocoristic sˁu:sˁu: instead. This form is found in the children and young groups’ responses. This shows why none of the participants from any age group produced the hypocoristic *ʔuʔu for the name ʔasˁi:l. Another pattern used by all the groups is adding a suffix to the full name as in xali:lo: for xali:l, ʔasˁi:lo: for ʔasˁi:l.

For the dissyllabic nonce name xami:l, the results reveal that the participants produce hypocoristic patterns similar to those of the common names. Thus, participants tend to reduplicate the first CV of the name as in the hypocoristic xamxam, keep the name as it with adding a suffix at the end as in xami:lu, or add the term “Ɂabu” at the beginning with changing the name morphologically as in ʔabu-l-xama:jil. In sum, the most common hypocoristic patterns of disyllabic Arabic names involve reduplication, affixation, and adding the term “Ɂabu” to male names and changing the name morphologically, in addition to geminating the second consonant and changing the long vowel /i:/ into the long vowel /u:/ to form the hypocoristic pattern [C₁aC₂C₂u:C_3], as in ʔasˁu:l.

The present study also investigates the case of forming hypocoristics for names sharing the same syllable shape but with different usage according to gender as in ʕali (CVCV) and ʕulɑ (CVCV), in which the former is used for males and the latter for females. Despite the slight phonological differences, they both start with the consonant /ʕ/ but one is followed by the short vowel /a/ and the other by the short vowel /u/, and both names end with an open syllable. Table 3 presents the patterns produced by all the participants regardless of their age group as the aim of this investigation is only to see whether the morphological similarity (in terms of root morpheme) between these names would result in similarity in hypocoristic formation processes.

Table 3. Number and percentage of hypocoristics of disyllabic names sharing morphological similarities produced by all the groups (n = 51)

ʕali			ʕula
Hypocoristic	No	%	Hypocoristic	No	%
ʕallu:ʃ	36	70.6	ʕallu:ʃ	34	66.7
ʕalla:wi	10	19.6	lu:lu:	13	25.5
ʕulʕul	5	9.8	ʔum-ellu:l	4	7.8

As illustrated in Table 3, the most used pattern for both names is ʕallu:ʃ which involves C₂ gemination (the /l/ sound in this example), and the suffixation of the—u:ʃ to the open coda syllable (as illustrated in 10). This form was used for ʕali by 70.6% and for ʕula by 66.7%. This hypocoristic pattern is related to names that end with an open syllable. It involves the duplication/gemination of the second radical [C₂] and the suffixation of—u:ʃ (as represented in 10), where the vowel [a] and the—u:ʃ suffixation are invariable while the consonants coincide with those of the actual name.

(10) <[C₁aC₂C₂u:ʃ]_Ni ↔ [tenderness, diminutive, love]_i>

This indicates the similarity in the hypocoristic formation process between these names. Other forms produced by the participants include reduplication as in ʕulʕul for ʕali (9.8%) and lu:lu: for ʕula (25.5%). Some participants (19.6%) add the suffix -a:wi to the name ʕali, and some add the term ʔum- to the name ʕula and change the name morphologically into ellu:l to form ʔum-ellu:l (7.8%). Therefore, one can argue that the morphological similarity between names can result in similar hypocoristic forms regardless of their gender.

Furthermore, this study includes compound names to explore the form of hypocoristics that Ammani Jordanians use for such names. Table 4 presents the number and percentage of the hypocoristic forms for compound names produced by the participants.

Table 4. Number and percentage of hypocoristics of compound names produced by all the groups (n = 51)

nu:r il-hudɑ			qɑtˁr in-nɑdɑ			ʕabd-ir-rahma:n			se:f id-di:n
Hypo.	No	%	Hypo.	No	%	Hypo.	No	%	Hypo.	No	%
nu:r	33	64.7	nada	29	56.9	ʕabbu:d	37	72.5	se:fe	30	58.8
nu:nu	15	29.4	nɑddu:ʃ	9	17.6	ʕabbu:de	8	15.7	se:fu	17	33.3
nu:ra	3	5.9	nu:nu	8	15.7	ʕabbu:dti	6	11.8	sajju:fi	3	5.9
			nɑddu:ʃe	5	9.8				sajju:f	1	2

As represented in Table 4, the most common patterns of compound names include either omitting the whole second part of the name as in the hypocoristic nu:r for nu:r il-hudɑ or omitting the second part and simultaneously forming a hypocoristic to the first part using reduplication such as nu:nu. A second way involves the deletion of the first part of the compound name, with some changes done for the second part, as in nada, nɑddu:ʃ, nu:nu, or nɑddu:ʃe for qɑtˁr in-nɑdɑ. Thus, the forms produced for compound names involve either changing the first part of the name and omitting the second one or deleting the first part of the name and changing the second one. In brief, one part of the compound name is deleted when forming a hypocoristic in Ammani-Jordanian Arabic (as in 11 & 12).

(11) <[N_i N_j]_NK ↔ [Ni]_K>

(12) <[N_i N_j]_NK ↔ [Nj]_K>

Ammani speakers often use foreign names either for themselves or for naming their pets (for details on the positive attitude Ammani people have toward their prestigious spoken dialect, see, Mashaqba et al., 2023). Accordingly, this paper includes three foreign names (Ɂiliːn, fredi, and pʰɔ:l) in the questionnaire to examine the hypocoristic formation process. Table 5 presents the most common names Ammani Jordanians use for these names.

Table 5. Number and percentage of hypocoristics of foreign names produced by all the groups (n = 51)

Ɂiliːn			fredi			pʰɔ:l
Hypocoristic	No	%	Hypocoristic	No	%	Hypocoristic	No	%
lu:lu	30	58.8	fu:fu:	27	52.9	pulpul	25	49
li:li	15	29.4	fred	24	47.1	pupu	19	37.3
Ɂili	6	11.8				pʰu:	7	13.7

The results in Table 5 show that the traditional process of reduplicating some parts of the name is also used in forming hypocoristics of foreign names. For instance, the most produced hypocoristic pattern of the name Ɂileːn is lu:lu (58.8%), followed by li:li (29.4%). Another pattern of the name Ɂileːn is found which encompasses preserving the first part of the name and omitting the final consonant Ɂili (11.8%), which leads to a phonological change of the long vowel [e:] into the short vowel [i]. The same process is applied to the other foreign names; fredi: > fu:fu: (52.9%), fred (47.1%); pʰɔ:l: > pupu (37.3%), pulpul (49%), pʰu: (13.7%).

With regard to the social contexts, almost all the participants confirmed that hypocoristics in Ammani Arabic are used between equals and close people or between superior-to-subordinate status, and that in all cases, using hypocoristics indicates informality. Unlike some other languages (e.g. Akan, where hypocoristics can be used in subordinate-to-superior contexts), the Ammani context does not use this structure and would express disrespect towards the superior. Moreover, most of the participants reported that they generally use hypocoristics when they have a positive attitude towards the person referred to in order to show intimacy, familiarity, and friendliness and to consolidate a social relationship. On the other hand, most of the participants reported that they would use the full name of a person rather than a hypocoristic if they have a negative attitude towards him/her. However, some participants stated that in specific contexts, they may use hypocoristics with a negative connotation, and in this case, they would have a sarcastic and negative meaning.

To summarise, the results of the present descriptive study indicate that the common hypocoristic patterns produced by the three age groups involve reduplication, affixation, and truncation. In reduplication, part of the base name is repeated to create the hypocoristic. Affixation involves the addition of a suffix; e.g., -i, -o, to the base name to form the hypocoristic. Truncation involves shortening the name by eliminating one of its parts. Among the interesting hypocoristic patterns is adding the term “Ɂabu” to male names and “ʔum” to female names, which is the process that indicates that some patterns are restricted to the gender associated with the name. It is important to note that the aforementioned processes can operate independently, such as ʒu:di which includes affixation only, whereas in some cases more than one process can be used to form a hypocoristic, as in sˁu:sˁi: that involves both reduplication and affixation.

Further, the results show that the hypocoristic forms for the nonce monosyllabic and disyllabic names are formed through the same processes adopted for the common names. In the case of compound names, the results reveal that either the first part of the name is changed and the second part is omitted (nunu or nu:r for nu:r Ɂil-hudɑ), or the first part of the name is omitted and the second is changed as in the hypocoristic forms of qɑtˁr in-nɑdɑ ~ nada or nɑddu:ʃ. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that morphological similarity between two names can result in similarity in their hypocoristic forms, regardless of the names’ gender, as seen in ʕallu:ʃ, which is found to be the most common hypocoristic for the male name ʕali and the female name ʕula. Finally, regarding the foreign names, the paper finds that they follow the same patterns used for the native Arabic names.

5. Conclusion

The current study seeks a descriptive analysis to explore and describe the patterns of hypocoristics in the Ammani-Jordanian context on the age of the participants and the gender of the name. The data used in the current study include common monosyllabic names, common disyllabic names, nonce names, compound names, and foreign names. The findings show that the hypocoristic formation processes used by Ammani Jordanians include reduplication, affixation, truncation, and the use of gender-specific terms like “Ɂabu” with male names and “ʔum” with female names. The examined age groups use all these hypocoristic processes; however, the frequency of their usage may differ from one group to the other. For instance, the children and young participants are found to prefer reduplication to form hypocoristics with monosyllabic names; whereas the elderly group shows a tendency towards adding the terms “Ɂabu” and “ʔum” to form a hypocoristic instead. As explained earlier, this process refers to the respect and the significant value intended for the receiver.

This study contributes to our understanding of the common hypocoristic patterns produced by Ammani-Jordanians from different age ranges and shows how various forms of hypocoristics a single name can carry. Another key contribution of the present study is that it investigates hypocoristics in light of a new framework, namely, Construction Morphology (Booij, 2010, 2016), that can be considered a complete theory of hypocoristics as it includes aspects of form and meaning at the same time. The study opens new directions for future research and concludes with pedagogical implications for learners of Arabic and English. The findings of the present study raise awareness to the pragmatic knowledge of hypocoristics by Arabic L2 learners in performing tenderness, intimacy, politeness, endearment, or respect to obtain successful cross-cultural communication. Such studies would be of great help to L2 Arabic learners and would constitute an important step toward research-based teaching of cross-cultural communication. Future work can investigate other dialects that may have patterns that are not found in Ammani Jordanian Arabic. It would also be interesting for further research to assess the hypocoristic patterns from the perspective of prosodic morphology theory instead of only depending on the C-V level of representations. Future work is suggested to examine changes in the productivity (or even linguistic loss) of hypocoristic patterns (if any).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes

1. Spanish indicates two types of nicknames: one of them is of no phonological significance which is often a common adjective or noun that depends on the individual’s personality or appearance. The other type has a phonological relevance as it is formed by applying many phonological processes, for instance, reduplication, truncation or syllabic epenthesis as Beto ̴ Alerto, Roberto, etc (Lipski, 1995).

2. This type is formed by partial reduplication of the final syllable of the word as in Inu: ̴ Inu:nu or Kulù ̴ Kulùulu, in which it “add(s) the reduplicative syllable with a set H (high) tone, but preserve the lexical tone rather than having it overridden by the LH (low high) melody” (Newman & Ahmad, 1992, p. 162).

3. In this type, hypocoristic names are formed via adding the suffix -lle as in Ὰli ̴̴ Ὰlilli or Ka:wù/Kàawu ̴ Kàawulle; this “suffix has its own specific tone while the stems preserve their lexical tone” (Newman & Ahmad, 1992, p. 164).

4. For details on the linguistic situation in Jordan in general and Amman in particular, read Mashaqba (2015), Mashaqba et al. (2020), and (2021), 2022a) and Huneety et al. (2021).

5. The sum of percentages in all the tables is 100.

Appendix

Table

A: Demographic details of the participants
Group	Number	Gender	Average age (y;m)	occupation
8–14	17	9 males; 8 females	11;6	school student (17)
16–58	18	9 males; 9 females	37;8	school students (2); university student (3); teacher (2); product manager (1); military sector (2); shopkeeper (2); business owner (2); housewife (3); physical therapist (1)
60- above	16	8 males; 8 females	69;2	past occupations: teacher (2); product manager (2); shopkeeper (2); business owner (1); housewife (3); football player (1); nurse (2); military sector (3)

Appendix B

This questionnaire aims at investigating hypocoristics in Ammani Jordanian Arabic.

A: participants’ demographic profile:

Age:

Gender:

Occupation:

B: Hypocoristic names (nicknames) refer to a shortened version of a name or word used with terms of endearment, pet names, diminutives, or fondling endings. Please, give/produce the hypocoristic form of the names given below

nu:r

ʒu:d

no:s

xali:l

ʔaṣi:l

xami:l

ʕali

ʕula

nu:r il-hudɑ

qɑtˁr in-nɑdɑ

ʕabd-ir-rahma:n

se:f id-di:n

nu:r-id-di:n

qaṭr-in-nada

ʔilin

fridi

pʰɔ:l