Category of diminutiveness in the english language

Traditionally, the term ‘diminutive’ conveys the idea of ‘smallness’. Diminutiveness conveys the meaning of small or little size, amount, quantity, power, value, importance, etc. which are often accompanied by different emotional nuances. The fundamental assumption which most scholars share, however, is that the prototypical function of the diminutive is to indicate smallness, but that it can convey a variety of pragmatic meanings that extend well beyond the notion of smallness.