Diminutives; Uses of ábu and umm; 'How big!' etc.; 'So-and-so'; Forms of personal address; Exhortations.

The word for 'a dog' in Arabic is chalb; 'a little dog' is chuláyb. This example illustrates that diminutives in Arabic are often formed not by adding an adjective meaning 'small', as in English, but by changing the internal vowel pattern of the word. The basic pattern of vowels and consonants for most diminutives is CuCayC(a).