The operation of diminutives in works of art at the present stage of development of literature

The article deals with the concept of "diminutive " and its use in works of art. It is discussed what functions are performed by diminutives in the current stage of literature development. In principle, any diminutives are able to capture any semantic content from among the studied ones (affectionate, ironic, etc.).It is another matter which of these meanings prevails in each particular speech act. The basic principle of this approach regarding word formation is formulated as follows: the addition of a diminutive suffix serves the needs for the expression of actual, discursively conditioned, pragmatically motivated meanings. Thus, the modern egg, radish, cucumber, herring, potato, chicken are actually diminutives of the second stage, demonstrating a consistently positive attitude to certain products for a long time.