In many languages of Europe,
augmentative derivations are used to express contempt or other negative attitudes toward the noun being so modified, whereas
diminutives may express affection; on the other hand, diminutives are frequently used to belittle or be dismissive. For instance, in
Spanish, a name ending in diminutive
-ito (masculine) or
-ita (feminine) may be a
term of endearment, but
señorito "little mister" for
señor "mister" may be mocking.
Polish has a range of
augmentative and
diminutive forms, which express differences in affect. So, from
żaba "a frog", besides
żabucha for simply a big frog, there is augmentative
żabsko to express distaste,
żabisko if the frog is ugly,
żabula if it is likeably awkward, etc. Affect can also be conveyed by more subtle means. Duranti, for example, shows that the use of pronouns in Italian narration indicates that the character referred to is important to the narration but is generally also a mark of a positive speaker attitude toward the character. In
Japanese and
Korean, grammatical affect is conveyed both through
honorific, polite, and humble language, which affects both nouns and verbal inflection, and through clause-final
particles that express a range of speaker emotions and attitudes toward what is being said. For instance, when asked in Japanese if what one is eating is good, one might say 美味しい
oishii "it's delicious" or まずい
mazui "it's bad" with various particles for nuance: :美味しいよ
Oishii yo (making an assertion; explicitly informing that it is good) :美味しいわ
Oishii wa! (expressing joy; feminine) :美味しいけど
Oishii kedo ("it's good but ...") :まずいね
Mazui ne ("it's bad, isn't it?" -- eliciting agreement) :まずいもん
Mazui mon (exasperated) The same can be done in
Korean: :맛있어요
Masi-issoyo (Neutral, polite) :맛있군요
Masi-ittgunyo! (Surprised, elated) :맛있잖아
Masi-ittjianha (lit. "It's not delicious", but connotes "It's delicious, no?") :맛이 없다
Masi-eopda (the base verb form for "bad tasting", used as a blunt, impolite statement) In English and Japanese, the
passive of intransitive verbs may be used to express an adversative situation: : In some languages with
split intransitive grammars, such as the
Central Pomo language of
California, the choice of encoding an affected
verb argument as an "object" (
patientive case) reflects empathy or emotional involvement on the part of the speaker: {{interlinear|number=ex: {{interlinear|number=ex: ==See also==