Hypocoristic

The names hypocoristic (from the Greek ὑποκοριστικός hypokoristikós 'diminutive', derived from the verb ὑποκορίζεσθαι hypokorízesthai 'to call affectionately') are those appellatives affectionate, familiar or euphemistic used to impersonate a real name. They are characterized by the fact that the words are subjected to a certain deformation, so that they are often apocopes, apheresis or diminutives of the true proper name, although they may also have an etymological origin different from it (as is the case of < i>Pepe with José). Especially, the hypocoristic term alludes to the abbreviations and modifications that proper names undergo in family language; for example: Celia comes from Cecilia. It is also common to use variants of the name in other languages as hypocoristics, in many cases English (as in the case of George, pronounced Yorch, as a hypocoristic of Jorge).< sup>[citation required]

According to academic spelling, hypocoristics in Spanish must be written with "i" (Dani, Cami), not with "y" (Danny, Camy), since that use of the "and" It is an Anglicism contrary to the spelling of Spanish. (See Spelling 2010, p. 79.)

Formation of hypocoristics

• In Spanish:
  • Adding Sufijos -(c)ito/-(c)ita, -(c)in/(c)in -(c)illo/-(c)illaor other less frequent as -cho/-chu/-chi/-txo/-txu/-txi (from the Basque): Juan → Juanito, Juanillo, Juancho, Juanchi, Juantxo; Ramón → Ramoncito.
  • Use of the final syllables of the name and/or addition of the suffixes mentioned above: Fernando → Nando; Ramón → Moncho.
  • Postponement of a tiny suffix. Sometimes it is used with condescence if the student is an adult: Juan → Juancito, Juanito.
  • The same diminutive suffix, used as an appeal depending on each name, for example: Alberto, Ernesto, Roberto, Héctor, etc. → Tito.
  • Deletion of one or more syllables by various deletion metaplasms, in addition to posing the atonous affectionate suffix '-i': Susana → Susi; Antonio → Toni. In other languages something similar occurs.
  • Shortening or clipping: deletion of final syllables: Nicholas → Nico; Guillermo → Guille.
  • Union of two names: Juan Manuel, Juan María → Juanma.
  • Some hypocortics may suffer such phonetic alterations that a foreigner other than Hispanic culture is not able to know what name it comes from. It is the case of Paco/Pacho/Pancho/Curro (Francisco), Pepe (José), Quico (Federico), Conchi (Concepción), Charo (Rosario), Chelo (Marcelo, Consuelo), Chele (Celeste), Lola (Dolores), Maite (María Teresa), Quino (Joaquín), etc.
  • Imitation of the language of infants and young children, mainly through palatalization of consonants: Gregorio → Goyo, Rosario → Charo, Antonio → Toño.
  • Spanishization of names of other languages: William, Willie, Wili, Güili → Guillermo.
• In German it is added -, - Lein. or -(l)i: Karl → Kalli. The first two are also used as tiny, as in Hund (dog) → Hündchen or Hündlein (dog). Subsequent vowels are often subjected to umlaut, i.e., they go from u, o, a a ü, ö, ä respectively: Hund → Hündchen, Arm → Ärmchen, Holz → Hölzchen.
• In German bass -cke and -tje.
• In Catalan/valenciano the hypocorstic is usually formed with the final syllable of the name: Josep → Pep, Joaquim → Quim, Francesc → Cesc; sometimes and in some areas it is added '-o': Joaquim → Ximo, Jesus → Suso/Xuso.
• In Czech the names have their own hypocorstic, for example: male Vašek (Wenceslao) Josef → Pepa (José), female Kateřina → Kačka (Catalina). If the subject is one thing, it is added iček for male and ička for female.
• In Esperanto, add the sharpeners -čj- (male) and -nj- (feminine) that replace the last consonant or the last consonant group of the root: patro → pate (father) patrino → panjo (mother).
• En interlingua se postpone -etto/-etta.
• In Italian the hypocortics are formed with -No., -ello/-ella, -etti/-etto/-etta or -uccio/-uccia: Paolo → Paolino/Paoletto, Paola → Paolina/Paoletta, Donato → Donatello, Guido → Guiduccio. In Sicilian is typical the termination -uzzo/-uzza: Santa → Santuzza.
• In Japanese it is postponed -chan or -kun: Kana → Kana-chan, Akihiro → Aki-chan. The vocal is often extended or the consonant is groaned to extend the name to two Moors: Setsuko → Set-chan, Hiroki → Hii-chan.
• In Latin it was added -ulus/-ula. For example, the name of the Roman Emperor Caligula means 'small boot', and is due to the small size of the military sandals (caligaein singular caliceI was wearing when I was young. Also, Ursula comes from ursa, which means bear.
• In Portuguese and Galician it is added -(z)inho/-(z)inha (b) -(c)iño/-(c)iña In Galician): Ana → Aninha/Aniña, João → Joãozinho/X(o)an → X(o)anciño, Xabier → Xabinho/Xabiño; some part of the name can also be removed, especially at the beginning or at the end, sometimes adding suffix. -cho,-cha: Xabier → Xabier, Ramón → Moncho.
• In Persian the most common names have hypocorstic form. Most of these hypocortics are formed by an apocope and adding a -I at the end of the word, or using only a part of a composite name. عبداله Abdullāh → عبدل Abdul, Abduli, ابحولی Abuli.
• In Russian the names are usually contracted. There are many suffixes to form hypocortics, usually added -chka -ka -sha -zha -ya -yok -in'ka. For example Svetlana → Sveta, Mikhail → Misha, Ekaterina → Katia, Katiusha, Sergey → Seryozha, María → Masha/Mashen'ka/Manya, Vera → Verochka, Maksimka, Tatyana → Tanya, Iván → Vanya/Vanyok, Lesya → Olesya. Some hypocortics may suffer such phonetic alterations that a foreigner outside Russian culture is not able to know what name it comes from. It is the case of Sasha/Shura/Sanya (Alexandr), Lyosha (Alexey), Vova (Vladimir), Xyusha (Oxana, Xenia), etc.
• In some languages you can form a hypocoristic duplicating a syllable of the name: John → Jo-Jo, Diana → Didi, Lourdes → Lulu, Javier → Javivi.

Examples in Spanish