Diminutive as an Inflectional Category in Walman*

Walman, a language in the Torricelli language spoken in Papua New Guinea has an inflectional diminutive affix which occurs in agreement slots in various words, including verbs and adjectives in opposition to third person singular masculine, third person singular feminine, and third plural. It contrasts with diminutive affixes in most languages in that (1) it cannot appear on nouns; and (2) it is clearly inflectional. The closest analogue in other languages that we are aware of is diminutive noun classes in Bantu languages. However, the Walman diminutive exhibits rather different agreement patterns from masculine and feminine and and can be shown not to be a third gender.