ON DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES.

This article is a reply to Dressler & Merlini, who try to offer a solution for the semantics of complex words formed by diminutive suffixes by assuming that the suffix functions as a kind of modifier of the bases to which it is attached. This assumption leads to the conclusion that, within semantics, diminutive suffixes are a kind of quantificational devices that natural languages possess. This paper argues against treating the diminutive suffixes as a kind of quantificational device that modifies the base to which it is attached.