Diminutive suffixes have been a topic of interest in several studies and from different perspectives. Although typically a topic of research in Morphology, diminutives have been largely investigated also in Semantics (e.g., Jurafsky 1996), Phonology (e.g., Ferreira 2005), Pragmatics (e.g., Adams 2009; Schneider 2017), Morphopragmatics (e.g., Dressler & Barbaresi 1994); Language and Cultural Socialization (e.g., Savickienė & Dressler 2007; Ochs, Pentecorvo & Fasulo, 1996), and Corpus Linguistics (e.g., Turunen 2008). The denotative semantics of diminutives has been claimed to be derived from the basic concept of dimensional 'smallness' (Jurafsky 1996; Novais 2002; Silva 2006), which relates to the prototypical dimensions of objects. Linguists agree, however, that the diminutives happen more frequently in contexts other than that of reducing the dimension of the referred entity, thus extrapolating the base word to reach the pragmatic level (Basílio 2004; Alves 2006; Rocha 2003; Turunen 2008; Dressler & Barbaresi 1994). In other words, they claim that the investigation of diminutives should move from morphosemantic to morphopragmatic analysis. From the latter perspective, the literature argues that diminutives operate in three main dimensions: referent dimension, speaker and referred entity dimension, and speaker and recipient dimension (Dressler & Barbaresi 1994), and in a variety of functions, such as affection, attenuation, proximity, irony, and insignificance. However, despite such great advancements in the literature, most of the studies that look at 'diminutives in use' still largely rely on single-utterance analysis, and non-naturally occurring interactions, thus overlooking what the sequential, moment-by-moment analysis of real interactions might reveal (cf. Raymond 2022). It is this gap in the literature that the current paper addresses, by reporting on an investigation of the use of diminutives in Brazilian Portuguese in obstetric (N=41) and gynecological (N=104) audio-recorded and fully-transcribed consultations. We investigate the data (over 500 cases of diminutive use) from a conversation analytical perspective to inquire how diminutives contribute to action; i.e., what they are being used to do. In contrast to previous studies on the use of diminutives, we specifically focus on the participants' own analysis and its relevance to action (Raymond 2022). The sequential analysis of naturally-occurring recorded interactions renders insights from a comparative perspective an utterance-only analysis would not be able to reveal; in particular, how participants can refer to the same entity by 'now' deploying a diminutivized form, and 'later' using a non-diminutivized form. Moreover, the investigation shows the participants' own orientations to the use of the diminutives, by selecting one or another form, depending on both the action performed and its sequential placement within the overall structural organization. The study provides evidence of 'mitigation-in-action' in the unfolding of the interactions (e.g., a patient refers to a cyst she fears to be cancer in a non-diminutivized form, whereas the doctor, in response, refers to the same cyst in a diminutivized form). Moreover, the conversation analytical, sequential analysis reveals an unheard-of use of diminutives, i.e., to transition between interactional phases or activities of the consultation.
