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Reduplication

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Occurrence of reduplication across world languages

In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word, part of that, or the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.

The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication is Edward Sapir's: "Generally employed, with self-evident symbolism, to indicate such concepts as distribution, plurality, repetition, customary activity, increase of size, added intensity, continuance."<ref>p. 76. Sapir, Edward. 1921. Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.</ref> It is used in inflections to convey a grammatical function, such as plurality or intensification, and in lexical derivation to create new words. It is often used when a speaker adopts a tone more expressive or figurative than ordinary speech and is also often, but not exclusively, iconic in meaning. It is found in a wide range of languages and language groups, though its level of linguistic productivity varies. Examples can be found in language as old as Sumerian, where it was used in forming some color terms, e.g. Template:Lang "white", Template:Lang "black".<ref>p. 31, Michalowski, Piotr. 2004. "Sumerian" in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages, edited by Roger D. Woodard, 19-59. Cambridge University Press.</ref>

Reduplication is the standard term for this phenomenon in the linguistics literature. Other occasional terms include cloning, doubling, duplication, repetition, and tautonym (when it is used in biological taxonomies, such as Bison bison).

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Typological description

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Template:IPA notice

Form

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Reduplication is often described phonologically in one of two ways: either (1) as reduplicated segments (sequences of consonants/vowels) or (2) as reduplicated prosodic units (syllables or moras). In addition to phonological description, reduplication often needs to be described morphologically as a reduplication of linguistic constituents (i.e. words, stems, roots). As a result, reduplication is interesting theoretically as it involves the interface between phonology and morphology.

The base is the word (or part of the word) that is to be copied. The reduplicated element is called the reduplicant, often abbreviated as RED or sometimes just R.

In reduplication, the reduplicant is most often repeated only once. In some languages, it can occur more than once, resulting in a tripled form, and not a duple as in most reduplication. Triplication is the term for this phenomenon of copying two times.Template:Sfn Pingelapese has both forms.Template:Sfn In this article, English translations of words are shown in apostrophes:

Basic verb Reduplication Triplication
Template:IPA  'to sing' Template:IPA  'singing' Template:IPA  'still singing'
Template:IPA  'to sleep' Template:IPA  'sleeping' Template:IPA  'still sleeping'

Triplication occurs in other languages, e.g. Ewe, Shipibo, Twi, Mokilese, Min Nan (Hokkien), Stau.Template:Sfn

Sometimes gemination (i.e. the doubling of consonants or vowels) is considered to be a form of reduplication. The term dupleme has been used (after morpheme) to refer to different types of reduplication that have the same meaning.

Full and partial

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Full reduplication involves a reduplication of the entire word. For example, Kham derives reciprocal forms from reflexive forms by total reduplication:

    Template:IPA 'ourselves' → Template:IPA 'we (to) us' Template:IPA
    Template:IPA 'themselves' → Template:IPA 'they (to) them' Template:IPA (Watters 2002)

Another example is from Musqueam Halkomelem "dispositional" aspect formation:

    Template:IPA 'to capsize' → Template:IPA 'likely to capsize' Template:IPA
    Template:IPA 'to speak' → Template:IPA 'talkative' Template:IPA (Shaw 2004)

Partial reduplication involves a reduplication of only part of the word. For example, Marshallese forms words meaning 'to wear X' by reduplicating the last consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) sequence of a base, i.e. base+CVC:

    kagir 'belt' → kagirgir 'to wear a belt' (kagir-gir)
    takin 'sock' → takinkin 'to wear socks' (takin-kin) (Moravsik 1978)

Many languages often use both full and partial reduplication, as in the Motu example below:

Base verb Full reduplication Partial reduplication
mahuta  'to sleep' mahutamahuta  'to sleep constantly' mamahuta  'to sleep (plural)'
  (mahuta-mahuta) (ma-mahuta)

Reduplicant position

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Reduplication may be initial (i.e. prefixal), final (i.e. suffixal), or internal (i.e. infixal), e.g.

Initial reduplication in Agta (CV- prefix):

    Template:IPA 'afternoon' → Template:IPA 'late afternoon' Template:IPA
    Template:IPA 'a long time' → Template:IPA 'a long time (in years)' (ŋa-ŋaŋaj) (Healey 1960)

Final reduplication in Dakota (-CCV suffix):

    Template:IPA 'tall (singular)' → Template:IPA 'tall (plural)' (hãska-ska)
    Template:IPA 'good (singular)' → Template:IPA 'good (plural)' Template:IPA (Shaw 1980, Marantz 1982, Albright 2002)

Internal reduplication in Samoan (-CV- infix):

    savali 'he/she walks' (singular) → savavali 'they walk' (plural) (sa-va-vali)
    alofa 'he/she loves' (singular) → alolofa 'they love' (plural) (a-lo-lofa) (Moravcsik 1978, Broselow and McCarthy 1984)
    le tamaloa 'the man' (singular)Template:Sfn → tamaloloa 'men' (plural) (tama-lo-loa)

Internal reduplication is much less common than the initial and final types.

Copying direction

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A reduplicant can copy from either the left edge of a word (left-to-right copying) or from the right edge (right-to-left copying). There is a tendency for prefixing reduplicants to copy left-to-right and for suffixing reduplicants to copy right-to-left:

Initial L → R copying in Oykangand Kunjen (a Pama–Nyungan language of Australia):

    Template:IPA → Template:IPA 'rain' (ed-eder)
    Template:IPA → Template:IPA 'straight' (alg-algal)

Final R → L copying in Sirionó:

    achisia → achisiasia 'I cut' (achisia-sia)
    ñimbuchao → ñimbuchaochao 'to come apart' (ñimbuchao-chao) (McCarthy and Prince 1996)

Copying from the other direction is possible although less common:

Initial R → L copying in Tillamook:

    Template:IPA 'eye' → Template:IPA 'eyes' Template:IPA
    Template:IPA 'break' → Template:IPA 'they break' Template:IPA (Reichard 1959)

Final L → R copying in Chukchi:

    nute- 'ground' → nutenut 'ground (abs. sg.)' (nute-nut)
    Template:IPA 'gopher' → Template:IPA 'gopher (abs. sg.)' Template:IPA (Marantz 1982)

Internal reduplication can also involve copying the beginning or end of the base. In Quileute, the first consonant of the base is copied and inserted after the first vowel of the base.

Internal L → R copying in Quileute:

    Template:IPA 'he put it on' → Template:IPA 'he put it on (frequentative)' (tsi-ts-ko)
    Template:IPA 'snow' → Template:IPA 'snow here and there' (tu-t-ko:jo’) (Broselow and McCarthy 1984)

In Temiar, the last consonant of the root is copied and inserted before the medial consonant of the root.

Internal R → L copying in Temiar (an Austroasiatic language of Malaysia):

    Template:IPA 'to shoot (perfective)' → Template:IPA 'to shoot (continuative)' Template:IPA
    Template:IPA 'to marry (perfective)' → Template:IPA 'to marry (continuative)' Template:IPA (Broselow and McCarthy 1984, Walther 2000)

A rare type of reduplication is found in Semai (an Austroasiatic language of Malaysia). "Expressive minor reduplication" is formed with an initial reduplicant that copies the first and last segment of the base:

    Template:IPA → Template:IPA 'to vomit' Template:IPA
    Template:IPA → Template:IPA 'appearance of nodding constantly' Template:IPA
    Template:IPA → Template:IPA 'monsoon rain' Template:IPA Diffloth 1973

With other morphological processes

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All the examples above consist of only reduplication, which also often occurs with other phonological and morphological processes, such as vowel alternation,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> deletion and affixation of non-reduplicating material.

For instance, in Tz'utujil a new '-ish' adjective form is derived from other words by suffixing the reduplicated first consonant of the base followed by the segment Template:IPA. This can be written succinctly as Template:IPA. Below are some examples:

Somali has a similar suffix that is used in forming the plural of some nouns: -aC (where C is the last consonant of the base):

This combination of reduplication and affixation is commonly referred to as fixed-segment reduplication.

In Tohono O'odham initial reduplication also involves gemination of the first consonant in the distributive plural and in repetitive verbs:

Sometimes gemination can be analyzed as a type of reduplication.Template:Citation needed

Template:Expand section

Phonological processes, environment, and reduplicant-base relations

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Template:Expand section

  • overapplication
  • underapplication
  • backcopying – A putative phenomenon of over-application in the reduplicant of a process triggered by the reduplicant in the baseTemplate:Sfn
  • base-reduplicant "identity" (OT terminology: BR-faithfulness)
  • tonal transfer/non-transfer

Function and meaning

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In the Malayo-Polynesian family, reduplication is used to form plurals (among many other functions):

  • Malay rumah "house", rumah-rumah "houses".

In pre-1972 Indonesian and Malaysian orthography, 2 was shorthand for the reduplication that forms plurals: orang "person", orang-orang or orang2 "people".Template:Sfn This orthography has resurfaced widely in text messaging and other forms of electronic communication.

The Nama language uses reduplication to increase the force of a verb: go, "look;", go-go "examine with attention".

Chinese and Japanese do not make morphological use of reduplication, but some words are formed this way, often with a collective sense: Template:Lang rén "person", Template:Lang rénrén "everybody"; Template:Lang toki "time", tokidoki Template:Lang "sometimes, from time to time". The iteration mark Template:Lang can be used to indicate reduplication, although in Chinese the iteration mark is no longer used in standard writing and is often found only in calligraphy.

Indo-European languages formerly used reduplication to form a number of verb forms, especially in the preterite or perfect. In the older Indo-European languages, many such verbs survive:

Those forms do not survive in Modern English but existed in its parent Germanic languages. Many verbs in the Indo-European languages exhibit reduplication in the present stem, rather than the perfect stem, often with a different vowel from that used for the perfect: Latin gigno, genui ("I beget, I begat") and Greek τίθημι, ἔθηκα, τέθηκα (I place, I placed, I have placed). Other Indo-European verbs used reduplication as a derivational process: compare Latin sto ("I stand") and sisto ("I remain"). All of those Indo-European inherited reduplicating forms are subject to reduction by other phonological laws.

Reduplication can be used to refer to the most prototypical instance of a word's meaning. In such a case, it is called contrastive focus reduplication. Finnish colloquial speech uses the process; nouns can be reduplicated to indicate genuinity, completeness, originality and being uncomplicated, as opposed to being fake, incomplete, complicated or fussy. It can be thought as compound word formation. For example, Söin jäätelöä ja karkkia, sekä tietysti ruokaruokaa. "I ate ice cream and candy, and of course food-food". Here, "food-food" is contrasted to "junk-food". One may say, "En ollut eilen koulussa, koska olin kipeä. Siis kipeäkipeä" ("I wasn't at school yesterday because I was sick. Sick-sick, that is"); that means that one was actually suffering from an illness instead of making up excuses, as usual.

  • ruoka "food", ruokaruoka "proper food", as opposed to snacks
  • peli "game", pelipeli "complete game", as opposed to a mod
  • puhelin "phone", puhelinpuhelin "phone for talking", as opposed to a pocket computer
  • kauas "far away", kauaskauas "unquestionably far away"
  • koti "home", kotikoti "home of your parents", as opposed to one's current place of residence

Words can be reduplicated with their case morphemes, as in lomalla lomalla ("away, on vacation, on leave"), where the adessive morpheme --lla appears twice.

In Swiss German, the verbs gah or goh "go", cho "come", la or lo "let" and aafa or aafo "begin" reduplicate when they are combined with other verbs. Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break Template:Interlinear Template:Col-break Template:Interlinear Template:Col-end

In some Salishan languages, reduplication can mark both diminution and plurality, with one process being applied to each end of the word, as in the following example from Shuswap. Note that the transcription is not comparable to the IPA, but the reduplication of both initial and final portions of the root is clear: ṣōk!Emē'’n 'knife' reduplicated as ṣuk!ṣuk!Emen'’me’n 'plural small knives' (Haeberlin 1918:159). Reduplication has been found to be a major part of Salish languages.Template:Sfn

Babbling in child language acquisition

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At 25–50 weeks after birth, typically developing infants go through a stage of reduplicated or canonical babbling (Stark 198, Oller, 1980). Canonical babbling is characterized by repetition of identical or nearly identical consonant-vowel combinations, such as nanana or idididi. It appears as a progression of language development as infants experiment with their vocal apparatus and home in on the sounds used in their native language. Canonical/reduplicated babbling also appears at a time when general rhythmic behavior, such as rhythmic hand movements and rhythmic kicking, appear. Canonical babbling is distinguished from earlier syllabic and vocal play, which has less structure.

Examples

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Indo-European

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Proto-Indo-European

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The Proto-Indo-European language used partial reduplication of a consonant and e in many stative aspect verb forms. The perfect or preterite (past) tense of some Ancient Greek,Template:Sfn Gothic, Latin, Sanskrit, Old Irish, and Old Norse verbs preserve this reduplication:

Proto-Indo-European also used reduplication for the imperfective aspect. Ancient Greek preserves this reduplication in the present tense of some verbs. Usually, but not always, this is reduplication of a consonant and i, and contrasts with e-reduplication in the perfect:Template:Sfn

Reduplication in nouns was rare, the best example being Proto-Indo-European Template:PIE 'wheel' (cf. Lithuanian kãklas 'neck', Sanskrit cakrá 'wheel', Greek κύκλος (kýklos) 'circle'), which doubled *kʷel-o- (cf. Old Prussian kelan 'wheel', Welsh pêl 'ball'),Template:Sfn itself likely a deverbative of *kʷelh₁- 'to turn'.

English

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English has several types of reduplication, ranging from informal expressive vocabulary (the first four forms below) to grammatically meaningful forms (the last two below). See also the alliteration section of the irreversible binomial article for cases like flip-flop and dribs and drabs.

  • Rhyming reduplication: Artsy-fartsy, boogie-woogie, okey-dokey, easy-peasy, hanky-panky, hocus-pocus, hoity-toity, hokey-pokey, holy moly, hurdy-gurdy, itsy-bitsy, namby-pamby, raggle-taggle, ragtag, razzle-dazzle, super-duper, teenie-weenie, willy-nilly, wingding.
  • Exact reduplications: Ack ack, aye-aye, back-to-back, blah-blah, boo-boo, bye-bye, chin-chin, choo-choo, chow-chow, dik-dik, doo-doo, fifty-fifty, gogo, ha ha, half-and-half, honk-honk, housey-housey, juju, klop-klop, mama, muumuu, night-night, no-no, papa, pee-pee, pip-pip, pom-pom, poo-poo, pooh-pooh, putt putt, so-so, ta-ta, there-there, tut-tut, tutu, wah-wah, wee-wee, yo-yo. While in many forms of English, exact reduplications can also be used to emphasise the strength of a word ("He wants it now now"), in South African English, 'now-now' means 'relatively soon'.
    • lexical reduplication: 'Each-each boy take one-one chair.' Indian English
  • Ablaut reduplications: In ablaut reduplications, the first vowel is almost always a high vowel or front vowel (typically ɪ as in hit) and the reduplicated vowel is a low vowel or back vowel (typically æ as in cat or ɒ as in top). Examples include: bric-a-brac, chit-chat, clip-clop, ding-dong, flimflam, flip-flop, hip-hop, jibber-jabber, kitty-cat, knick-knack, mishmash, ping-pong, pitter-patter, riffraff, sing-song, slipslop, splish-splash, tick-tock, ticky-tacky, tip-top, whiff-whaff, wibble-wobble, wishy-washy, zig-zag. Three-part ablaut sequences are less numerous, but are attested, e.g. tic-tac-toe, bing-bang-boom, bish-bash-bosh, splish-splash-splosh<ref>Donka Minkova, "Ablaut reduplication in English: the criss-crossing of prosody and verbal art", English Language and Linguistics 6:1:133–169 (May 2002), Template:Doi</ref> and "Live, Laugh, Love". Spike Milligan's poem "On the Ning Nang Nong" achieves comic effect by varying the ordering of vowels in such triples: There's a Nong Nang Ning/Where the trees go Ping!.
  • Shm-reduplication can be used with most any word; e.g. baby-shmaby, cancer-shmancer and fancy-shmancy. This process is a feature of American English from Yiddish, starting among the American Jews of New York City, then the New York dialect and then the whole country.

Of the above types, only shm-reduplication is productive, meaning that examples of the first three are fixed forms and new forms are not easily accepted.

  • Comparative reduplication: In the sentence "John's apple looked redder and redder," the reduplication of the comparative indicates that the comparative is becoming more true over time, meaning roughly "John's apple looked progressively redder as time went on." In particular, this construction does Template:Em mean that John's apple is redder than some other apple, which would be a possible interpretation in the absence of reduplication, e.g. in "John's apple looked redder." With reduplication, the comparison is of the object being compared to itself over time. Comparative reduplication always combines the reduplicated comparative with "and". This construction is common in speech and is used even in formal speech settings, but it is less common in formal written texts. Although English has simple constructs with similar meanings, such as "John's apple looked ever redder," these simpler constructs are rarely used in comparison with the reduplicative form. Comparative reduplication is fully productive and clearly changes the meaning of any comparative to a temporal one, despite the absence of any time-related words in the construction. For example, the temporal meaning of "The frug seemed wuggier and wuggier" is clear: despite not knowing what a frug is or what wugginess is, it is easy to grasp that the apparent wugginess of the frug was increasing over time, as indicated by the reduplication of the comparative "wuggier".Template:Citation needed
  • Contrastive focus reduplication: Exact reduplication can be used with contrastive focus (generally where the first noun is stressed) to indicate a literal, as opposed to figurative, example of a noun, or perhaps a sort of Platonic ideal of the noun, as in "Is that carrot cheesecake or carrot cake cake?".Template:Sfn This is similar to the Finnish use mentioned above. Furthermore, it is used to contrast "real" or "pure" things against imitations or less pure forms. For example, at a coffee shop one may be asked, "Do you want soy milk?" and respond, "No, I want milk milk." This gives the idea that they want "real" milk.Template:Citation needed
  • Intensificatory reduplication: Examples like a big, big problem, a long, long way, or very very difficult are instances of intensificatory reduplication. This type of reduplication is used to intensify the meaning of the original word.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It's a way of expressing that something is not just big or long, but very big or very long. This type of reduplication is typically used only with a narrow range of words, and the meaning can often be inferred even if the specific combination is not a standard idiomatic expression. The more common items include gradable adjectives (e.g., big, great, deep, bad, old), along with intensificatory adverbs (e.g., very, really, so) and determiners (e.g., much). This is only possible for pre-head modifiers, and not with other syntactic functions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> For example, a long long way is fine, but *the way is long long is ungrammatical, and I really really want it but not *I want it really really.

The double is—such as "What I want is, is to go home"—is in some cases a type of reduplication, which may be regarded as non-standard or incorrect.

More can be learned about English reduplication in Template:Harvtxt, Template:Harvtxt, and Template:Harvtxt.

Dutch

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While not common in Dutch, reduplication does exist. Most, but not all (e.g., pipi, blauwblauw (laten), taaitaai (gingerbread)) reduplications in Dutch are loanwords (e.g., koeskoes, bonbon, (ik hoorde het) via via) or imitative (e.g., tamtam, tomtom).Template:Sfn Another example is a former safe sex campaign slogan in Flanders: Eerst bla-bla, dan boem-boem (First talk, then have sex; lit. First blah-blah, then boom-boom). In Dutch the verb "gaan" (to go) can be used as an auxiliary verb, which can lead to a triplication: we gaan (eens) gaan gaan (we are going to get going). The use of gaan as an auxiliary verb with itself is considered incorrect, but is commonly used in Flanders.Template:Sfn Numerous examples of reduplication in Dutch (and other languages) are discussed by Daniëls (2000).

Afrikaans

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Afrikaans makes use of reduplication to emphasize the meaning of the word repeated and to denote a plural or event happening in more than one place. For example, krap means "to scratch one's self," while krap-krap-krap means "to scratch one's self vigorously",Template:Sfn whereas "dit het plek-plek gereën" means "it rained here and there".Template:Sfn Reduplication in Afrikaans has been described extensively in the literature – see for example Template:Harvtxt, Template:Harvtxt and Template:Harvtxt. Further examples of this include: "koes" (to dodge) being reduplicated in the sentence "Piet hardloop koes-koes weg" (Piet is running away while constantly dodging / cringing); "sukkel" (to struggle) becoming "sukkel-sukkel" (making slow progress; struggling on); and "kierang" (to cheat) becoming "kierang-kierang" to indicate being cheated on repeatedly.Template:Sfn

Romance

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In Italian reduplication was used both to create new words or word associations (tran-tran, via via, leccalecca) and to intensify the meaning (piano piano "very softly").Template:Citation needed

Common in Lingua Franca, particularly but not exclusively for onomatopoeic action descriptions: Spagnoli venir...boum boum...andar; Inglis venir...boum boum bezef...andar; Francés venir...tru tru tru...chapar. ("The Spaniards came, cannonaded, and left. The English came, cannonaded heavily, and left. The French came, trumpeted on bugles, and captured it.")Template:Sfn

Common uses for reduplication in French are the creation of hypocoristics for names, whereby Louise becomes Loulou, and Zinedine Zidane becomes Zizou; and in many nursery words, like dada 'horsie' (vs. cheval 'horse'), tati/tata 'auntie' (vs. tante 'aunt'), or tonton 'unkie' (vs. oncle 'uncle').

In Romanian and Catalan, reduplication is not uncommon and it has been used for both the creation of new words (including many from onomatopoeia) and expressions, for example,

  • Romanian: mormăi, țurțur, dârdâi, expressions talmeș-balmeș, harcea-parcea, terchea-berchea, țac-pac, calea-valea, hodoronc-tronc.
  • Catalan: així així, aixina aixana, balandrim-balandram, baliga-balaga, banzim-banzam, barliqui-barloqui, barrija-barreja, bitllo-bitllo, bub-bub, bum-bum, but-but, catric-catrac, cloc-cloc, cloc-piu, corre-corrents, de nyigui-nyogui, farrigo-farrago, flist-flast, fru-fru, gara-gara, gloc-gloc, gori-gori, leri-leri, nap-buf, ning-nang, ning-ning, non-non, nyam-nyam, nyau-nyau, nyec-nyec, nyeu-nyeu, nyic-nyic, nyigo-nyigo, nyigui-nyogui, passa-passa, pengim-penjam, pif-paf, ping-pong, piu-piu, poti-poti, rau-rau, ringo-rango, rum-rum, taf-taf, tam-tam, tau-tau, tic-tac, tol·le-tol·le, tric-trac, trip-trap, tris-tras, viu-viu, xano-xano, xau-xau, xerric-xerrac, xim-xim, xino-xano, xip-xap, xiu-xiu, xup-xup, zig-zag, ziga-zaga, zim-zam, zing-zing, zub-zub, zum-zum.

Slavic

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The reduplication in the Russian language serves for various kinds of intensifying of the meaning and exists in several forms: a hyphenated or repeated word (either exact or inflected reduplication), and forms similar to shm-reduplication.Template:Sfn

Celtic

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Reduplication is a common feature of Irish and includes the examples rírá, ruaille buaille both meaning "commotion" and fite fuaite meaning "intertwined".Template:Sfn

Indo-Aryan

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Typically all Indo-Aryan languages, like Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Bengali use partial or echoic reduplication in some form or the other. It is usually used to sound casual, or in a suggestive manner. It is often used to mean etcetera. For example, in Hindi, chai-shai (chai means tea, while this phrase means tea or any other supplementary drink or tea along with snacks). Quite common in casual conversations are a few more examples like shopping-wopping, khana-wana. South Asian Indo Aryan languages are also rich in other forms of reduplication: morphological (expressives), lexical (distributives), and phrasal (aspectual).

  • morphological:

Template:Fs interlinear

Reduplication also occurs in the 3rd gaṇa (verb class) of the Sanskrit language: bibheti "he fears", bibharti "he bears", juhoti "he offers", dadāti, "he gives". Even though the general idea is to reduplicate the verb root as a prefix, several sandhi rules change the outcome.

There are a number of constructions in Hindi and Urdu that are constructed by reduplication. Nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, pronouns, all have possibility of reduplications.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

(1) Reduplication of numbers (2) Reduplication of pronouns
Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear
Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear
(3) Reduplication of nouns (4) Reduplication of adjectives
Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear
Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear
(5) Reduplication of verbs (6) Reduplication of adverbs
Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear
Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear

Armenian

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In Armenian, reduplication follows the same classification as in Turkish (see below), namely emphatic reduplication, echo reduplication,<ref>Inkelas, Sharon and Downing, Laura (2015). What is Reduplication? Typology and Analysis Part 1/2: The Typology of Reduplication. Language and Linguistics Compass 9/12 (2015), p. 510</ref> and doubling. Many appear as lexical entries in Armenian lexicographical sources.

  1. Emphatic reduplication, one of two interpolated consonants (փ, ս), as in կարմիր (red), which becomes կասկարմիր (very red).<ref>Malxaseancʿ, Stepʿan (1944–1945), Hayerēn bacʿatrakan baṙaran [Armenian Explanatory Dictionary] (in Armenian), Volume 2, p. 396 Yerevan: State Publishing House</ref>
  2. Echo Reduplication, as in սեղան-մեղան (table schmable).<ref>Malxaseancʿ, Stepʿan (1944–1945), Hayerēn bacʿatrakan baṙaran [Armenian Explanatory Dictionary] (in Armenian), Volume 3, p. 198, Yerevan: State Publishing House</ref>
  3. Doubling, as in քիչ-քիչ (little [by] little) <ref>Malxaseancʿ, Stepʿan (1944–1945), Hayerēn bacʿatrakan baṙaran [Armenian Explanatory Dictionary] (in Armenian), Volume 4, p. 575, Yerevan: State Publishing House</ref>

Turkic

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Turkish

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In Turkish, there are three kinds of reduplication.<ref>Göksel & Kerslake (2005)</ref>

Emphatic reduplication, also called intensification: A word can be reduplicated partially, such that an emphatic stem is created to be attached to the adjective. This is done by taking the first syllable of the adjective, dropping the syllable-final phoneme, and adding one of four interpolated consonants (p, s, m, r). For example, kırmızı (red) becomes kıpkırmızı (very red); mavi (blue) becomes masmavi (very blue); yeşil (green) becomes yemyeşil (very green), and temiz (clean) becomes tertemiz ("spotless"). The added consonant is unpredictable, grammatically speaking; phonological studies, such as Wedel (1999), shed light on the subject.<ref>Wedel (1999)</ref>

Echo reduplication: similar to echo word in other languages, a word can be reduplicated while replacing the initial consonants (not being m, and possibly missing) with m. The meaning of the original word is broadened. For example, tabak means "plate(s)", and tabak mabak then means "plates, dishes and such". This can be applied to all kinds of words, as in yeşil meşil meaning "green, greenish, whatever". Although not used in formal written Turkish, it is a standard accepted construction.

Doubling: A word can be reduplicated totally, turning it into an adverb with a related meaning. For example, zaman zaman (time time) meaning "time to time" or "occasionally"; uzun uzun (long long) meaning "at length." This type is used also in formal Turkish, especially in literature. There are a lot of reduplications in this category which do not, if used as one word, have a place in the Turkish language's vocabulary but is used solely in this way. These words are called mimetic in linguistics. An example is 'şırıl şırıl' (used for the sound of a waterfall). They try to give sounds to not only audible but also non-audible phenomena. For example, 'mışıl mışıl' is used for sleeping soundly.

Dravidian

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Reduplication is also used in Dravidian languages like Telugu for the same purpose.Template:Sfn

  • phrasal:

Template:Fs interlinear

Bantu

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Reduplication is a common phenomenon in Bantu languages and is usually used to form a frequentive verb or for emphasis.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

  • Swahili piga 'to strike'; pigapiga 'to strike repeatedly'
  • Ganda okukuba (oku-kuba) 'to strike'; okukubaakuba (oku-kuba-kuba) 'to strike repeatedly, to batter'
  • Chewa tambalalá 'to stretch one's legs'; tambalalá-tambalalá to stretch one's legs repeatedly'

Popular names that have reduplication include

Semitic

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Semitic languages frequently reduplicate consonants, though often not the vowels that appear next to the consonants in some verb form.Template:Sfn This can take the shape of reduplicating the antepenultimate consonant (usually the second of three),Template:Clarify the last of two consonants, or the last two consonants.Template:Sfn

Hebrew

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In Hebrew, reduplication is used in nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs for various reasons:

There are also numerous examples in the Torah, for example "אם שמוע תשמעו" which means "if you listen diligently".

Amharic

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In Amharic, verb roots can be reduplicated three different ways. These can result in verbs, nouns, or adjectives (which are often derived from verbs).

From the root sbr 'break', antepenultimate reduplication produces täsäbabbärä 'it was shattered'Template:Sfn and biconsonantal reduplication produces täsbäräbbärä 'it was shattered repeatedly' and səbərbari 'a shard, a shattered piece'.Template:Sfn

From the root kHb 'pile stones into a wall', since the second radical is not fully specified, what some call "hollow", the antepenultimate reduplication process reduplicates the k inserting the vowel a along with the consonant as a place holder for the hollow consonant, which is by some criteria antepenultimate, and produces akakabä 'pile stones repeatedly'.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Japanese

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A small number of native Japanese nouns have collective forms produced by reduplication (possibly with rendaku), such as 人々 hitobito "people" (h → b is rendaku) – these are written with the iteration mark "々" to indicate duplication. This formation is not productive and is limited to a small set of nouns. Similarly to Standard Chinese, the meaning is not that of a true plural, but collectives that refer to a large, given set of the same object; for example, the formal English equivalent of 人々 would be "people" (collective), rather than "persons" (plural individuals).

Japanese also contains a large number of mimetic words formed by reduplication of a syllable. These words include not only onomatopoeia, but also words intended to invoke non-auditory senses or psychological states, such as きらきら kirakira (sparkling or shining). By one count, approximately 43% of Japanese mimetic words are formed by full reduplication,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and many others are formed by partial reduplication, as in がささ〜 ga-sa-sa- (rustling)Template:Sfn – compare English "a-ha-ha-ha".

Austronesian

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Austronesian languages are known for their extensive use of reduplication in both nouns and verbs.Template:Sfn

Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian)

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In the Malay language, reduplication is a semi-productive process. It is used for expression of various grammatical functions (such as verbal aspect) and it is part in a number of complex morphological models. Simple reduplication of nouns and pronouns can express at least three meanings:

  1. Diversity or non-exhaustive plurality:
    1. Burung-burung itu juga diekspor ke luar negeri = "All those birds are also exported out of the country".
  2. Conceptual similarity:
    1. langit-langit = "ceiling; palate; etc." (langit = "sky")
    2. jari-jari = "spoke; bar; radius; etc." (jari = "finger" etc.)
  3. Pragmatic accentuation:
    1. Saya bukan anak-anak lagi! "I am not a child anymore!" (anak = "child")

Reduplication of an adjective can express different things:

  • Adverbialisation: Jangan bicara keras-keras! = "Don't speak loudly!" (keras = hard)
  • Plurality of the corresponding noun: Rumah di sini besar-besar = "The houses here are big" (besar = "big").

Reduplication of a verb can express various things:

  • Simple reduplication:
    • Pragmatic accentuation: Kenapa orang tidak datang-datang? = "Why aren't people coming?"
  • Reduplication with me- prefixation, depending on the position of the prefix me-:
    • Repetition or continuation of the action: Orang itu memukul-mukul anaknya: "That man continuously beat his child";
    • Reciprocity: Kedua-dua orang itu pukul-memukul = "Those two men would beat each other".

Notice that in the first case, the nasalisation of the initial consonant (whereby /p/ becomes /m/) is repeated, while in the second case, it only applies in the repeated word.

Māori

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The Māori language (New Zealand) uses reduplication in a number of ways.Template:Sfn

Reduplication can convey a simple plural meaning, for instance wahine "woman", waahine "women", tangata "person", taangata "people". Biggs calls this "infixed reduplication". It occurs in a small subset of "people" words in most Polynesian languages.

Reduplication can convey emphasis or repetition, for example mate "die", matemate "die in numbers"; and de-emphasis, for example wera "hot" and werawera "warm".

Reduplication can also extend the meaning of a word; for instance paki "pat" becomes papaki "slap or clap once" and pakipaki "applaud"; kimo "blink" becomes kikimo "close eyes firmly". Nouns can also be formed this way – a good example are names of native New Zealand plants given in memory of tropical plants known by early arriving Polynesian settlers that they approximately resemble: kohekohe is named because its stems resemble the kohe bamboo (hence "bamboo-ish") in tropical islands,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> same for several ferns known as piupiu (Parablechnum and others in their family) named after their fronds' shape resembling those of the piu or Pritchardia pacifica.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mortlockese

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The Mortlockese language is a Micronesian language spoken primarily on the Mortlock Islands. In the Mortlockese language, reduplication is used to show a habitual or imperfective aspect. For example, /jææjæ/ means "to use something" while the word /jæjjææjæ/ means "to use something habitually or repeatedly".Template:Sfn Reduplication is also used in the Mortlockese Language to show extremity or extreme measures. One example of this can be seen in /ŋiimw alɛɛtɛj/ which means "hate him, her, or it". To mean "really hate him, her, or it," the phrase changes to /ŋii~mw al~mw alɛɛtɛj/.Template:Sfn

Pingelapese

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Pingelapese is a Micronesian language spoken on the Pingelap atoll and on two of the eastern Caroline Islands, called the high island of Pohnpei. Pingelapese utilizes both duplication and triplication of a verb or part of a verb to express that something is happening for certain duration of time. No reduplication means that something happens. A reduplicated verb means that something IS happening, and a triplication means that something is STILL happening. For example, saeng means 'to cry' in Pingelapese. When reduplicated and triplicated, the duration of this verb is changed:

  • saeng – cries
  • saeng-saeng – is crying
  • saeng-saeng-saeng – is still crying

Few languages employ triplication in their language. In Micronesia, Pingelapese is one of only two languages that uses triplication, the other being Mokilese. Reduplication and triplication are not to be confused with tense. In order to make a phrase past, present, or future tense, a temporal phrase must be used.Template:Sfn

Rapa

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Rapa is the French Polynesian language of the island of Rapa Iti.Template:Sfn In terms of reduplication, the indigenous language known as Old Rapa uses reduplication consistent to other Polynesian languages. Reduplication of Old Rapa occurs in four ways: full, rightward, leftward, and medial. Full and rightward are generally more frequently used as opposed to the leftward and medial. Leftward and medial only occur as CV reduplication and partial leftward and medial usually denote emphasis.Template:Sfn

Example of reduplication forms:Template:Sfn

Base form Reduplicated form
Full reduplication
  • kini 'pinch'
  • kati 'bite'
  • kinikini 'pinch skin'
  • katikati 'nibble'
Rightward reduplication
  • māringi 'pour'
  • taka'uri 'go backward'
  • pātī 'bounce'
  • ngaru 'wave'
  • māringiringi 'pour continuously'
  • taka'uri'uri 'roll back and forth'
  • pātītī 'splash (of raindrops)'
  • ngaruru 'sea sick'
Leftward reduplication
  • komo 'sleep'
  • kume 'drag'
  • kokomo 'deep sleep'
  • kukume 'large, flat leaf seaweed'
Medial reduplication
  • maitaki 'good; well'
  • maitataki 'excellent; very well'

For the Rapa Language the implementation of reduplication has specific implications. The most evident of these are known as iterative, intensification, specification, diminutive, metaphorical, nominalizing, and adjectival.Template:Sfn

Iterative:

  • naku 'come, go' → nakunaku 'pass by frequently'
  • ipuni 'hide' → ipunipuni 'hide and seek'

Intensification:

  • mare 'cough' → maremare 'cough forcefully'
  • roa 'much' → roroa 'very much'
  • maki 'sick' → makimaki 'really sick'

Specification:

  • kini 'to pinch' → kinikini 'pinch skin'

Diminutive:

  • paki 'slap, strike' → pakipaki 'clap'
  • kati 'bite' → katikati 'nibble'

Metaphorical (typically comparing an animal action with a human action):Template:Sfn

  • kapa 'mime with hands' → kapakapa 'flap wings (a bird)'
  • mākuru 'detach oneself' → mākurukuru 'shed or molt'
  • taŋi 'Yell' → taŋitaŋi 'chirp (a bird)'

Nominalizing:

  • para 'finished' → parapara 'leftovers'
  • Panga'a 'divide' → panaga'anga'a 'a break, a divide'

Adjectival:

  • repo 'dirt, earth' → reporepo 'dirty'
  • pake 'sun' → pakepake 'shining, bright'

Tagalog

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Philippine languages are characterized as having the most productive use of reduplication, especially in Tagalog (the basis of the Filipino language). Reduplication in Tagalog is complex. It can be roughly divided into six types:<ref name="Lopez">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Blake">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Wan">Template:Cite web</ref>

  1. Monosyllabic; e.g. olol ("mad")
  2. Reduplication of the final syllable; e.g. himaymay ("separate meat from bones"), from himay (same meaning)
  3. Reduplication of the final syllable of a disyllabic word, where the added syllable is created from the first consonant of the first syllable and the last consonant of the second syllable; e.g. kaliskis ("[fish] scale"), from kalis ("to scrape")
  4. Reduplication of the initial syllable of the root; e.g. susulat ("will write"), from sulat ("to write")
  5. Full reduplication; e.g. araw-araw ("every day"), from araw ("day" or "sun")
  6. Combined partial and full reduplication; e.g. babalibaligtad ("turning around continually", "tumbling"), from baligtad ("reverse")

They can further be divided into "non-significant" (where its significance is not apparent) and "significant" reduplication. 1, 2, and 3 are always non-significant; while 5 and 6 are always significant. 4 can be non-significant when used for nouns (e.g. lalaki, "man").<ref name="Lopez"/><ref name="Blake"/><ref name="Wan"/>

Full or partial reduplication among nouns and pronouns can indicate emphasis, intensity, plurality, or causation; as well as a diminutive, superlative, iterative, restrictive, or distributive force.<ref name="Lopez"/><ref name="Blake"/><ref name="Wan"/>

Adjectives and adverbs employ morphological reduplication for many different reasons such as number agreement when the adjective modifies a plural noun, intensification of the adjective or adverb, and sometimes because the prefix forces the adjective to have a reduplicated stem".Template:Sfn

Number agreement for adjectives is entirely optional in Tagalog (e.g., a plural noun does not have to have a plural article marking it):Template:Sfn

  • "Ang magandang puno" "the beautiful tree".
  • "Ang magagandang puno" "the beautiful trees".

The entire adjective is repeated for intensification of adjectives or adverbs:

  • Magandang maganda ang kabayo "the horse is very pretty"

In verbs, reduplication of the root, prefix or infix is employed to convey different grammatical aspects. In "Mag- verbs" reduplication of the root after the prefix "mag-" or "nag-" changes the verb from the infinitive form, or perfective aspect, respectively, to the contemplated or imperfective aspect.Template:Sfn Thus:

  • magluto inf/actor trigger-cook "to cook" or "cook!" (imperative)
  • nagluto actor trigger-cook "cooked"
  • nagluluto actor trigger-reduplication-cook "cook" (as in "I cook all the time) or "is/was cooking"
  • magluluto inf/actor trigger-rdplc-cook (contemplated) "will cook"

For ergative verbs (frequently referred to as "object focus" verbs) reduplication of part the infix and the stem occur:

  • lutuin cook-inf/object trigger-cook "to cook"
  • niluto object trigger infix-cook (perf-cook) "cooked"
  • niluluto object trigger infix-reduplication-cook "cook"/"is/was cooking"
  • lulutuin rdp-cook-object trigger "will cook".Template:Sfn

The complete superlative prefix pagka- demands reduplication of the first syllable of the adjective's stem:

  • "Ang pagkagagandang puno" "The most beautiful tree (and there are none more beautiful anywhere)"

Wuvulu-Aua

[edit]

Reduplication is not a productive noun derivation process in Wuvulu-Aua as it is in other Austronesian languages. Some nouns exhibit reduplication, though they are considered to be fossilized.Template:Sfn

Verb roots can undergo whole or partial reduplication to mark aspect. Actions that are continuous are indicated by a reduplicated initial syllable. A whole reduplication can also be used to indicate imperfective aspect.Template:Sfn

  • roni "to hurry"
  • roroni "hurrying"
  • rawani "good"
  • rarawani "good" (continuous)
  • ware "talk"
  • wareware "talked" (durative)

The onomatopoeia in Wuvulu language also uses reduplication to describe the sound. These onomatopoeic words can be used as alienable nouns.

  • "baʔa" or "baʔabaʔa" is a word for the sound of knocking.Template:Sfn

Austroasiatic

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Vietnamese

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Sino-Tibetan

[edit]

Burmese

[edit]

As in many Tibeto-Burman languages, in Burmese, reduplication is used in verbs and adjectives to form adverbs.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> Many Burmese words, especially adjectives such as Template:Lang ('beautiful' Template:IPA), which consist of two syllables (when reduplicated, each syllable is reduplicated separately), when reduplicated (Template:Lang → Template:Lang 'beautifully' Template:IPA) become adverbs.<ref name=":0" /> This is also true of many Burmese verbs, which become adverbs when reduplicated.<ref name=":0" />

Some nouns are also reduplicated to indicate plurality. For instance, Template:Lang, means "country," but when reduplicated to Template:Lang, it means "many countries" (as in Template:Lang, "international"). Another example is Template:Lang, which means "kinds," but the reduplicated form Template:Lang means "multiple kinds."

A few measure words can also be reduplicated to indicate "one or the other":

Chinese

[edit]

Reduplication is sometimes employed in verbs and adjectives to enhance the effect of them.

Similar to other Sino-Tibetan languages, adjectives form adverbs by reduplication.

Other than verbs and adjectives, some nouns can be reduplicated to express plurality or a collection in Chinese.

Old Proto-Basque

[edit]

One of the puzzles of Basque is the large number of words that begin with vowels in which the initial and second vowels are the same. Joseba Lakarra proposes that in Pre-Proto-Basque there was extensive reduplication<ref>Template:In lang Template:Cite journal</ref> and that later, certain initial consonants were deleted, leaving the VCV pattern of Proto-Basque:

Pre-Proto-Basque Proto-Basque Modern Basque English
*dar → *da-dar *adaR Template:Lang horn (anatomy)
*dats → *da-dats *adats Template:Lang long hair
*der → *de-der *edeR Template:Lang beautiful
*dol → *do-dol *odoL Template:Lang blood
*gor → *go-gor *gogoR Template:Lang hard
*nal → *na-nal *anaL Template:Lang can, to be able
*nan → *na-nan *anan-tz Template:Lang to forget
*nin → *ni-nin *inin-tz Template:Lang dew
*nol → *no-nol *onoL Template:Lang board
*nur → *nu-nur *unuR Template:Lang hazelnut
*zal → *za-zal *azal Template:Lang bark
*zen → *ze-zen *zezen Template:Lang bull
*ten → *te-ten *eten Template:Lang Template:Wikt-lang
*ran → *ra-ran *aran Template:Lang plum

See also

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Notes

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Citations

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References

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Bibliography

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  • Albright, Adam. (2002). A restricted model of UR discovery: Evidence from Lakhota. (Draft version).
  • Template:Cite journal
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  • Borbor, Dariush. (2023). Analytical Comparative Etymological Dictionary of Reduplication in the Major Languages of the Middle East and Iran. Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics (No. 55). Peter Lang. Template:ISBN.
  • Template:Cite encyclopedia
  • Dayley, Jon P. (1985). Tzutujil grammar. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  • Diffloth, Gérald. (1973). Expressives in Semai. In P. N. Jenner, L. C. Thompson, and S. Starsota (Eds.), Austroasiatic studies part I (pp. 249–264). University Press of Hawaii.
  • Fabricius, Anne H. (2006). A comparative survey of reduplication in Australian languages. LINCOM Studies in Australian Languages (No. 03). Lincom. Template:ISBN.
  • Gomez, Gale Goodwin, and Hein van der Voort, eds. Reduplication in indigenous languages of South America. Brill, 2014.
  • Template:Cite journal
  • Haugen, Jason D. (forthcoming). Reduplicative allomorphy and language prehistory in Uto-Aztecan. (Paper presented at Graz Reduplication Conference 2002, November 3–6).
  • Harlow, Ray. (2007) Māori: a linguistic introduction Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN. 127–129
  • Healey, Phyllis M. (1960). An Agta grammar. Manila: The Institute of National Language and The Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  • Hurch, Bernhard (Ed.). (2005). Studies on reduplication. Empirical approaches to language typology (No. 28). Mouton de Gruyter. Template:ISBN.
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  • Inkelas, Sharon; & Zoll, Cheryl. (2005). Reduplication: Doubling in morphology. Cambridge studies in linguistics (No. 106). Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN.
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  • Marantz, Alec. (1982). Re reduplication. Linguistic Inquiry 13: 435–482.
  • McCarthy, John J. and Alan S. Prince. (1986 [1996]). Prosodic morphology 1986. Technical report #32. Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science. (Unpublished revised version of the 1986 paper available online on McCarthy's website: http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/pub/papers/pm86all.pdf).
  • McCarthy, John J.; and Prince, Alan S. (1995). Faithfulness and reduplicative identity. In J. Beckman, S. Urbanczyk, and L. W. Dickey (Eds.), University of Massachusetts occasional papers in linguistics 18: Papers in optimality theory (pp. 249–384). Amherst, MA: Graduate Linguistics Students Association. (Available online on the Rutgers Optimality Archive website: https://web.archive.org/web/20090423020041/http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?id=568).
  • McCarthy, John J.; and Prince, Alan S. (1999). Faithfulness and identity in prosodic morphology. In R. Kager, H. van der Hulst, and W. Zonneveld (Eds.), The prosody morphology interface (pp. 218–309). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Available online on the Rutgers Optimality Archive website: https://web.archive.org/web/20050525032431/http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?id=562).
  • Moravcsik, Edith. (1978). Reduplicative constructions. In J. H. Greenberg (Ed.), Universals of human language: Word structure (Vol. 3, pp. 297–334). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
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  • Oller, D. Kimbrough. 1980. The emergence of the sounds of speech in infancy, in Child Phonology Vol. I, edited by G. H. Yeni-Komshian, J. F. Kavanaugh, and C. A. Ferguson. Academic Press, New York. pp. 93–112.
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