Author: Ashiru Yusuf Adamu & Sani Dauda Ibrahim
Date: 2026/01/10
This study reinterprets Hausa diminutives from a Cognitive Linguistics perspective, demonstrating that they constitute systematic conceptual structures rather than merely expressing notions of physical smallness. Drawing on data collected from speakers within the Kano metropolis and guided by the Generalisation Commitment, one of the central theoretical commitments of Cognitive Linguistics, the analysis reveals that Hausa diminutives instantiate a range of cognitive mechanisms, including metaphor, categorisation, polysemy, metonymy, and the LINK image schema. These mechanisms underpin the extension of diminutive meanings into domains such as identity construction, social roles, geographical reference, and the evaluation of actions and qualities. The study argues that Hausa diminutives form a coherent conceptual category grounded in embodied experience and processes of construal, thereby accounting for their diverse yet systematically related meanings. The findings demonstrate that the semantic extensions associated with diminutivisation are conceptually motivated rather than arbitrary. Overall, the research highlights the extent to which Hausa grammatical constructions encode underlying cognitive structures and underscores the explanatory potential of Cognitive Grammar in morpho-semantic analysis.
Keywords: Cognitive Linguistics, Hausa Diminutives, Conceptual Motivation, Cognitive Grammar, Conceptual Processes.
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