Augmentative

Not writing anything for almost a month is real pity. But that does not mean that I do not have ideas. I am diligently writing them down, so I do not forget about them. Here is one and it is not really something I could be proud of as a Slovene.

I have to admit that I never think about my mother tongue, Slovene, from the point of view of a stranger. But the other day I have been asked how we form Augmentative in my language. What prefix or suffix do we add to the word to make Augmentative. I was thinking and thinking and came to sad conclusion. Yes, it is true and sad, Slovene language does not have Augmentative. For now, let us say, because who knows what brilliant Slovene linguists might invent (or maybe they already have and am not informed:).

ice-cream (EN) - sladoled (SI) - gelato (IT) - sladoled (HR) - glaciajxo (EO)

"Augmentative" in Slovene only exists if we add an Adjective in front of the Subject:
Huge ice-cream (EN) - ogromen sladoled (SI)

As for some other languages:
gelatone (IT) - Augmentative for ice-cream in Italian
sladoledina (HR) - Augmentative for ice-cream in Croatian
glaciajxego (EO) - Augmentative for ice-cream in Esperanto

On the contrary, the Slovene language does have Diminutive.
sladoledek (SI) - Diminutive for ice-cream in Slovene

According to a good friend of mine there is a simple explanation for why Slovene language knows only Diminutive and not also Augmentative - because Slovenia is so small that is does not need Augmentative.

But, I will investigate further!

Read more about the Augmentative here.