The Diminutive in Spanish as a Foreign Language Materials in Brazil: Critical Review and Proposals

Abstract

Despite the high communicative usefulness of diminutives and their interesting geolectal variation, they are paid only cursory attention in curricular and didactic materials of Spanish as a foreign or second language. In this article we analyse the treatment given to these suffixes in some three hundred materials on Spanish for foreigners, using as a reference the publications available to teachers and lusophone students in Brazil. We show how the morphological, semantic and pragmatic peculiarities of these Spanish suffixes are explained, and look at the activities proposed. We also consider and comment on their merits and inaccuracies and make what we hope are some interesting suggestions.