Diminutive Nouns in Miami-Illinois

Almost all Algonquian languages use diminutive suffixes on nouns and, in some languages, on verbs as well. The formation of diminutive nouns in Miami-Illinois is very complex, and much more irregular than that seen in the most closely related Algonquian languages. I discuss here patterns of diminutive noun formation in Miami-Illinois; besides comparing them to those found in its sister languages when relevant, I demonstrate which forms are unpredictable, and discuss philological problems of phonemic interpretation posed by the original records.