Diminutive or singulative? The suffixes-in and-k in Russian

This paper investigates the semantics and distribution of two Russian suffixes,-in and-k, each of which has been treated both as singulative and diminutive. However, we argue that-in is singulative and-k diminutive.-in systematically applies to mass nouns and creates count ones with the meaning "a natural unit of N", where the nature of the unit is lexically fixed and based on our conceptualization of the entity denoted by the stem. We propose that-in is a standardized partition operator ΠNU of type &Lte, t>, <e, t≫, which imposes division into natural units. In contrast,-k is a diminutive suffix whose main sub-meanings are smallness in size and affection. Under the semantic use, it maps the argument to a low degree on a size scale. Syntactically, it is the head of SizeP, located immediately above DivP. Finally, we analyze the suffix-ink, dividing it into compositional-in-k (goros-in-k-a 'a small/nice pea') and non-compositional-ink (snez-ink-a 'snowflake'; ✶snez-in-a does not exist). Compositional-in-k consists of two suffixes-in and-k, with the singulative and the diminutive functions, respectively. Noncompositional-ink is a single suffix imposing division into natural units and further contributing a presupposition that such units are inherently small.