A grammar of Pite Saami, 2014

10.2 Verbal derivation
(39) barrga-t → barga-tji-t ‘work a little bit’
work-inf work-dim-inf [pit110404]e
(40) vádtse-t → vádtsa-tji-t ‘walk slowly’
walk-inf walk-dim-inf [2047]
(41) bällke-t → bielka-tji-t ‘have a small quarrel’
quarrel-inf quarrel-dim-inf [4698]
The weak form of the base verb is selected by -tj, and the final vowel in the
base becomes a. The i following the -tj suffix is the verb class marker for the
resulting Class V verb.
Note, however, that other derivational suffixes can produce diminutive meanings
as well, as illustrated by the examples in (42) through (44).
(42) gähtja-t → gietja-sti-t ‘glance’
see-inf see-vblz1-inf [2530]
(43) gåsså-t → gåsså-di-t ‘cough a little bit’
cough-inf cough-vblz2-inf [4898]
(44) rassjo-t → rässjo-dalla-t ‘rain lightly’
rain-inf rain-vblz3-inf [5073]
In these three examples, the derivational suffixes -st, -d and -dall, respectively, 6
also derive deverbal verbs which add similar diminutive meanings to the base.
If these suffixes were restricted to a diminutive meaning, then this would simply
be a case of many forms corresponding to a single function. However, these
suffixes, which are all quite common, only occasionally carry a diminutive meaning.
In other instances, they impart a variety of different meanings to the base
form. This is illustrated by just a few examples below, and is even more obvious
throughout Ruong (1943). Despite the variety of and inconsistencies in the meanings
that verbal derivational suffixes express, their limited number relative to the
number of functions they fulfill is reason enough to describe each of these suffixes
as a single derivational affix with multiple functions, rather than multiple,
homonymous affixes, each aligned to a separate function.
6 The vowel following each of these verbalizers is a class marker.
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