Inlinguistics, aredundancy isinformation that is expressed more than once.[1][2]
Examples of redundancies include multipleagreement features inmorphology,[1] multiple features distinguishingphonemes inphonology,[2] or the use of multiple words to express a single idea inrhetoric.[1] For instance, while the previous sentence is grammatically correct and uses words appropriately, its rhetorical structure contains unnecessary repetitions and could be revised as, "Linguistic redundancy is regarded as having more than one: agreement feature in morphology; phoneme distinguishing feature in phonology; or word to express a single idea in rhetoric." as a clear, concise, and redundancy-free way to express the original concept.
Redundancy may occur at any level ofgrammar. Because ofagreement – a requirement in many languages that the form of different words in a phrase or clause correspond with one another – the samesemantic information may be expressed several times. In theSpanish phraselos árboles verdes ("the green trees"), for example, thearticlelos, thenounárboles, and theadjectiveverdes are allinflected to show that the phrase isplural.[1] An English example would be:that man is a soldier versusthose men are soldiers.
In phonology, aminimal pair is a pair of words or phrases that differs by only one phoneme, the smallest distinctive unit of the sound system. Even so, phonemes may differ on severalphonetic features. For example, the English phonemes/p/ and/b/ in the wordspin andbin feature differentvoicing,aspiration, andmuscular tension. Any one of these features is sufficient to differentiate/p/ from/b/ in English.[2]
Generative grammar uses such redundancy to simplify the form of grammatical description. Any feature that can be predicted on the basis of other features (such as aspiration on the basis of voicing) need not be indicated in the grammatical rule. Features that are not redundant and therefore must be indicated by rule are calleddistinctive features.[2]
As withagreement in morphology, phonologically conditionedalternation, such ascoarticulation andassimilation, add redundancy on the phonological level. The redundancy of phonological rules may clarify some vagueness inspoken communication. According to psychologistSteven Pinker, "In the comprehension of speech, the redundancy conferred by phonological rules can compensate for some of the ambiguity of the sound wave. For example, a speaker may know thatthisrip must bethis rip and notthe srip because in English the initialconsonant clustersr is illegal."[3]
Writing guides, especially fortechnical writing, usually advise avoiding redundancy, "especially the use of two expressions that mean the same thing. Such repetition works against readability and conciseness."[4] Others make a distinction between redundancy and repetition:
Repetition, if used well, can be a good tool to use in your writing. It can add emphasis to what you are trying to say and strengthen a point. There are many types of useful repetition. Redundancy, on the other hand, cannot be a good thing. Redundancy happens when the repetition of a word or idea does not add anything to the previous usage; it just restates what has already been said, takes up space, and gets in the way without adding meaning.[5]
Computer scientistDonald E. Knuth, author of highly acclaimed textbooks, recommends "to state things twice, in complementary ways, especially when giving a definition. This reinforces the reader's understanding."[6]
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