"AFFECTIONATE" DIMINUTIVE EXPLETIVES FROM THE RELIGIOUS NAME JEZU(S)! IN POLISH

The paper provides a corpus-driven analysis of the emotive meanings and pragmatic functions of Polish 'affectionate' expletives from Jezu(s)! 'Jesus!' which contain diminutive suffixes, e.g. Jezusku 'Jesus. DIM' and Jezusienku 'Jesus. DIM. DIM'. While affectionate forms of various names, including Jezu(s), have been frequently discussed in Polish, few studies - if any - have discussed their various uses as expletives in Polish. Because these diminutive forms of expletives (DEs) are used infrequently, this study uses the Internet as corpus by collecting examples from blogs, the microblogging site Twitter, forums, and The National Corpus of Polish (NKJP). It is shown that the force evoked by the expletive Jezu(s) causes the diminutive forms to typically fall on either end of the negative-positive polarity scale; that is, the DEs rarely express neutral force. Rather, they are mainly used to convey strong positive attitude (e.g. appreciation) or negative attitude (e.g. complaint, frustration). Often, the 'softness' of the blow and/or degree of positive emotion depends on the diminutive suffix(es) used. This interesting paradox - a lexical item that is a combination of negative expletive force and positive tender diminutives - provides deeper insight into the extent of diminutive and expletive use in contemporary Polish.