Casting a new ‘eye’ on an elusive suffix: The use and origin(s) of Japanese dialectal suffix ‘-me’

In several regions of Japan, various dialects exhibit a peculiar suffix -me, which mostly attaches to animal names, and seems to carry out various functions. The exact nature of its use is, to some extent, still unclear, since this -me is alternatively described as expressing endearment, familiarity or smallness, or, on the contrary, depreciation, fear or distance (which lead to some authors regarding it as two different homophonous suffixes). On a more grammatical scale, its relationships with definiteness, with plural and collective number and with animacy have also been questioned. Thus, this article aims at examining the different uses of -me in Japanese dialects, and its possible connection with other suffixes, in order to tackle the question of its origin(s).