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Inkosi (chief) > inkosazana/inkosazane (chiefs daughter, unmarried lady) >
inkosazanyana (belittling reference to the chiefs daughter)
. .
Inmeamng:
Certain IsiZulu suffixes are diminutive in form and, to a certain extent, belittling
Umuntu (person) > umuntukazana (poor person)
Umufo (man) > umfokazana (poor man)
Klopper (undated: 39) shows that in Afrikaans the diminutive can be used to
express endearment:
Daar skuil 'n hasie onder die plant
(A little hare is hiding under the plant)
Ake ubheke amehlwana akhe.
(Just look at her small eyes.)
The role of vocatives in the expression of emotion
Vocatives are personal names or pronouns that are used to address persons in
order to attract their attention, to establish rapport, and to provide cooperative or
confrontational emotional frameworks for subsequent interpersonal communication.
The choice of a vocative plays an important role to make the communication between
the speaker and the addressee successful. According to Combrink the chosen vocative,
its morphology, its syotactic position and eventually its expressive value determines the
relationship and thus the level of the social interaction between the speaker and the
addressee. Correct language usage is not only about grarnmaticality, suitability and
effectiveness, but also about the internal cohesion in respect ofthe degree of formality,
familiarity, politeness and emotionality.