Occurrence of reduplication across world languages
Inlinguistics,reduplication is amorphological process in which theroot orstem of aword, part of that, or the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.
The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication isEdward Sapir's: "Generally employed, with self-evident symbolism, to indicate such concepts as distribution, plurality, repetition, customary activity, increase of size, added intensity, continuance."[1] It is used ininflections to convey a grammatical function, such as plurality or intensification, and inlexicalderivation 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 oflinguistic productivity varies. Examples can be found in language as old asSumerian, where it was used in forming somecolor terms, e.g.babbar "white",kukku "black".[2]
Reduplication is the standard term for this phenomenon in the linguistics literature. Other occasional terms includecloning,doubling,duplication,repetition, andtautonymy (when it is used inbiological taxonomies, such asBison bison).
Reduplication is often describedphonologically in one of two ways: either (1) as reduplicatedsegments (sequences ofconsonants/vowels) or (2) as reduplicatedprosodic units (syllables ormoras). In addition to phonological description, reduplication often needs to be describedmorphologically as a reduplication of linguisticconstituents (i.e.words,stems,roots). As a result, reduplication is interesting theoretically as it involves the interface between phonology and morphology.
Thebase is the word (or part of the word) that is to be copied. The reduplicated element is called thereduplicant, often abbreviated asRED or sometimes justR.
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 aduple as in most reduplication.Triplication is the term for this phenomenon of copying two times.[3]Pingelapese has both forms.[4] In this article, English translations of words are shown in apostrophes:
Sometimesgemination (i.e. the doubling of consonants or vowels) is considered to be a form of reduplication. The termdupleme has been used (aftermorpheme) to refer to different types of reduplication that have the same meaning.
Full reduplication involves a reduplication of the entire word. For example,Kham derives reciprocal forms fromreflexive forms by total reduplication:
[ɡin]
'ourselves'
→
[ɡinɡin]
'we (to) us'
(ɡin-ɡin)
[jaː]
'themselves'
→
[jaːjaː]
'they (to) them'
(jaː-jaː)
(Watters 2002)
Another example is from MusqueamHalkomelem "dispositional"aspect formation:
[kʼʷə́ɬ]
'to capsize'
→
[kʼʷə́ɬkʼʷəɬ]
'likely to capsize'
(kʼʷə́ɬ-kʼʷəɬ)
[qʷél]
'to speak'
→
[qʷélqʷel]
'talkative'
(qʷél-qʷel)
(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 lastconsonant-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 theMotu example below:
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:
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.
A rare type of reduplication is found inSemai (an Austroasiatic language of Malaysia). "Expressive minor reduplication" is formed with an initial reduplicant that copies the first and last segment of the base:
All the examples above consist of only reduplication, which also often occurs with other phonological and morphological processes, such asvowel alternation,[6]deletion andaffixation of non-reduplicating material.
For instance, inTz'utujil a new '-ish' adjective form is derived from other words by suffixing the reduplicated first consonant of the base followed by the segment[oχ]. This can be written succinctly as-Coχ. Below are some examples:
In pre-1972Indonesian andMalaysian orthography,2 was shorthand for the reduplication that forms plurals:orang "person",orang-orang ororang2 "people".[8] This orthography has resurfaced widely in text messaging and other forms of electronic communication.
TheNama language uses reduplication to increase the force of averb:go, "look;",go-go "examine with attention".
Chinese andJapanese do not make morphological use of reduplication, but some words are formed this way, often with a collective sense:人rén "person",人人rénrén "everybody";時toki "time",tokidoki時々 "sometimes, from time to time". Theiteration mark々 can be used to indicate reduplication, although in Chinese the iteration mark is no longer used in standard writing and is often found only incalligraphy.
Indo-European languages formerly used reduplication to form a number ofverb forms, especially in thepreterite orperfect. In the older Indo-European languages, many such verbs survive:
Those forms do not survive in Modern English but existed in its parentGermanic languages. Many verbs in the Indo-European languages exhibit reduplication in thepresent stem, rather than the perfect stem, often with a different vowel from that used for the perfect: Latingigno, 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 Latinsto ("I stand") andsisto ("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 calledcontrastive 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 amod
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 inlomalla lomalla ("away, on vacation, on leave"), where the adessive morpheme --lla appears twice.
InSwiss German, the verbsgah orgoh "go",cho "come",la orlo "let" andaafa oraafo "begin" reduplicate when they are combined with other verbs.
Si
she
chunt
comes
üse
our
Chrischtboum
Christmas tree
cho
come
schmücke.
adorn
Si chunt üse Chrischtboum cho schmücke.
she comes our {Christmas tree}come adorn
She comes to adorn our Christmas tree.
Si
she
lat
lets
ne
him
nid
not
la
let
schlafe.
sleep
Si lat ne nid la schlafe.
she lets him notlet sleep
She doesn't let him sleep.
In someSalishan languages, reduplication can mark both diminution and plurality, with one process being applied to each end of the word, as in the following example fromShuswap. Note that the transcription is not comparable to theIPA, but the reduplication of both initial and final portions of the root is clear:ṣōk!Emē'’n 'knife' reduplicated asṣuk!ṣuk!Emen'’me’n 'plural small knives' (Haeberlin 1918:159). Reduplication has been found to be a major part of Salish languages.[9]
At 25–50 weeks after birth, typically developing infants go through a stage of reduplicated or canonicalbabbling (Stark 198, Oller, 1980). Canonical babbling is characterized by repetition of identical or nearly identical consonant-vowel combinations, such asnanana oridididi. 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.
Ancient Greekλύωlúō 'I free' vs.λέλυκαléluka "I have freed"
Gothichald "I hold" vs.haíhald (hĕhald) "I/he held"
Latincurrō "I run" vs.cucurrī "I ran" or "have run"
Old Irishmaidid "it breaks" vs.memaid "it broke"
Old Norserœ "I row" vs.rera (røra) "I rowed"
Sanskritलिखतिlikhati 'he writes' vs.लिलेखlilekha "he has written" or "he wrote"
A rare modern English reflex isdo vs.did
Proto-Indo-European also used reduplication for theimperfective aspect. Ancient Greek preserves this reduplication in the present tense of some verbs. Usually, but not always, this is reduplication of a consonant andi, and contrasts with e-reduplication in the perfect:[11]
δίδωμιdídōmi "I give" (present)
δέδωκαdédōka "I have given" (perfect)
*σίσδωsísdō →ἵζωhízō "I set" (present)
*σέσδομαιsésdomai →ἕζομαιhézomai "I sit down" (present; from sd-,zero-grade ofroot in *sed-os → ἕδοςhédos "seat, abode")
Reduplication in nouns was rare, the best example being Proto-Indo-European*kʷé-kʷl-os 'wheel' (cf.Lithuaniankãklas 'neck',Sanskritcakrá 'wheel',Greekκύκλος (kýklos) 'circle'), which doubled *kʷel-o- (cf.Old Prussiankelan 'wheel',Welshpêl 'ball'),[12] itself likely a deverbative of *kʷelh₁- 'to turn'.
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 thealliteration section of the irreversible binomial article for cases likeflip-flop anddribs and drabs.
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 itnow now"), in South African English, 'now-now' means 'relatively soon'.
lexical reduplication: 'Each-each boy take one-one chair.'Indian English
Ablaut reduplications: Inablaut reduplications, the first vowel is almost always ahigh vowel orfront vowel (typically ɪ as in hit) and the reduplicated vowel is alow vowel orback vowel (typically æ as incat or ɒ as intop). 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[13] 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!.
Of the above types, only shm-reduplication isproductive, 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 thecomparative 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 doesnot 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 fullyproductive 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".[citation needed]
Contrastive focus reduplication: Exact reduplication can be used with contrastive focus (generally where the first noun isstressed) to indicate a literal, as opposed to figurative, example of a noun, or perhaps a sort ofPlatonic ideal of the noun, as in "Is that carrotcheesecake or carrotcake cake?".[14] 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 wantmilk milk." This gives the idea that they want "real" milk.[citation needed]
Intensificatory reduplication: Examples likea big, big problem,a long, long way, orvery very difficult are instances of intensificatory reduplication. This type of reduplication is used to intensify the meaning of the original word.[15] 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 includegradable 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-headmodifiers, and not with othersyntactic functions.[16] For example,a long long way is fine, but*the way is long long is ungrammatical, andI really really want it but not*I want it really really.
Thedouble 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.
While not common in Dutch, reduplication does exist. Most, but not all (e.g.,pipi,blauwblauw (laten),taaitaai (gingerbread)) reduplications in Dutch areloanwords (e.g.,koeskoes,bonbon, (ik hoorde het)via via) or imitative (e.g.,tamtam,tomtom).[17] 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 ofgaan as an auxiliary verb with itself is considered incorrect, but is commonly used in Flanders.[18] Numerous examples of reduplication in Dutch (and other languages) are discussed by Daniëls (2000).
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," whilekrap-krap-krap means "to scratch one's self vigorously",[19] whereas "dit het plek-plek gereën" means "it rained here and there".[20] Reduplication in Afrikaans has been described extensively in the literature – see for exampleBotha (1988),Van Huyssteen (2004) andVan Huyssteen & Wissing (2007). 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.[21]
InItalian 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").[citation needed]
Common inLingua 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.")[22]
Common uses for reduplication inFrench are the creation ofhypocoristics fornames, wherebyLouise becomesLoulou, andZinedine Zidane becomesZizou; and in many nursery words, likedada 'horsie' (vs.cheval 'horse'),tati/tata 'auntie' (vs.tante 'aunt'), ortonton 'unkie' (vs.oncle 'uncle').
InRomanian andCatalan, reduplication is not uncommon and it has been used for both the creation of new words (including many fromonomatopoeia) and expressions, for example,
Reduplication is a common feature ofIrish and includes the examplesrírá,ruaille buaille both meaning "commotion" andfite fuaite meaning "intertwined".[24]
Typically all Indo-Aryan languages, likeHindi,Punjabi,Gujarati andBengali use partial orechoic reduplication in some form or the other. It is usually used to sound casual, or in a suggestive manner. It is often used to meanetcetera. 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).
Reduplication also occurs in the 3rdgaṇa (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.[26][27][28]
InArmenian, reduplication follows the same classification as in Turkish (see below), namely emphatic reduplication, echo reduplication,[29] and doubling. Many appear as lexical entries in Armenian lexicographical sources.
Emphatic reduplication, one of two interpolated consonants (փ, ս), as inկարմիր (red), which becomesկասկարմիր (very red).[30]
Echo Reduplication, as inսեղան-մեղան (table schmable).[31]
InTurkish, there are three kinds of reduplication.[33]
Emphatic reduplication, also calledintensification: 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) becomeskıpkırmızı (very red);mavi (blue) becomesmasmavi (very blue);yeşil (green) becomesyemyeşil (very green), andtemiz (clean) becomestertemiz ("spotless"). The added consonant is unpredictable, grammatically speaking; phonological studies, such as Wedel (1999), shed light on the subject.[34]
Echo reduplication: similar toecho word in other languages, a word can be reduplicated while replacing the initial consonants (not beingm, and possibly missing) withm. The meaning of the original word is broadened. For example,tabak means "plate(s)", andtabak mabak then means "plates, dishes and such". This can be applied to all kinds of words, as inyeşil 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.
The Tamil language uses many reduplications, both in spoken (colloquial) and in formal usage. Reduplications are called irattaik kilavi (இரட்டைக் கிளவி) in Tamil grammar.[citation needed]
baga-baga (பகபக) - wolfing down food
busu-busu (புசுபுசு) – soft and bushy
cala-cala (சலசல) - sound of breeze, bubbling brook, cascading water
cara-cara (சரசர) - sound of objects rubbing against one another
choda-choda (சொதசொத) – marshy, waterlogged
chuDa-chuDa (சுடச்சுட) – piping hot
cuL-cuL (சுள்சுள்) - sharpness of pain
daga-daga (தகதக) - blazing, shining, sparkling
gaDa-gaDa (கடகட) - quickly, rapidly
gaNIr-gaNIr (கணீர்கணீர்) - strident (like the sound of a bell)
gaba-gaba (கபகப) - wolfing down food
galIr-galIr (கலீர்கலீர்) - sound of walking ankle bracelets
gama-gama (கமகம) - fragrant
gara-gara (கரகர) – crunchy (as in food), gravely (as in voice)
Semitic languages frequently reduplicate consonants, though often not the vowels that appear next to the consonants in some verb form.[39] This can take the shape of reduplicating the antepenultimate consonant (usually the second of three),[clarification needed] the last of two consonants, or the last two consonants.[40]
InHebrew, reduplication is used in nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs for various reasons:
For emphasis: inלאט לאטle'at le'at, where the adverbלאט "slowly" is duplicated to mean "very slowly". In the slangismגבר גברgever gever, the nounגבר "man" is duplicated to mean a "very manly man".
To mean "one by one":
יום יוםyom yom is based onיום "day", and means "every day, day by day".
פרה פרהpara para is based onפרה "cow", and literally means "cow by cow", referring to "one thing at a time". This is possibly a folk etymology, and a derivation from Spanish "para" meaning "stop" is possible.
To create a diminutive: by reduplicating the last two consonants (bi-consonantal reduplication):
כלבkelev "dog"
כלבלבklavlav "puppy"
חתולkhatul "cat"
חתלתולkhataltul "kitten"
לבןlavan "white"
לבנבןlevanban "whitish"
קטןkatan "small"
קטנטןktantan "tiny"
To create secondary derivative verbs: by reduplicating the root or part of it:
dal (דל) "poor" >dilel (דלל) "to dilute", and alsodildel (דלדל) "to impoverish, weaken".
nad (נד) "to move, nod" >nadad (נדד) "to wander" but alsonidned (נדנד) "to swing" and - due tophono-semantic matching of theYiddish lexical item נודיען nídyen / núdzhen "to bore, bother" - also "to bother, pest, nag, annoy".[41]: 206
InAmharic, verb roots can be reduplicated three different ways. These can result in verbs, nouns, or adjectives (which are often derived from verbs).
From the rootsbr 'break', antepenultimate reduplication producestäsäbabbärä 'it was shattered'[42] and biconsonantal reduplication producestäsbäräbbärä 'it was shattered repeatedly' andsəbərbari 'a shard, a shattered piece'.[43]
From the rootkHb 'pile stones into a wall', since the second radical is not fully specified, what some call "hollow", the antepenultimate reduplication process reduplicates thek inserting the vowela along with the consonant as a place holder for the hollow consonant, which is by some criteria antepenultimate, and producesakakabä 'pile stones repeatedly'.[44][45]
A small number of nativeJapanese nouns havecollective forms produced by reduplication (possibly withrendaku), such as 人々hitobito "people" (h →b is rendaku) – these are written with theiteration mark "々" to indicate duplication. This formation is notproductive and is limited to a small set of nouns. Similarly to Standard Chinese, the meaning is not that of a trueplural, 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 ofmimetic words formed by reduplication of a syllable. These words include not onlyonomatopoeia, 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,[46][47] and many others are formed by partial reduplication, as in がささ〜ga-sa-sa- (rustling)[48] – compare English "a-ha-ha-ha".
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:
Diversity or non-exhaustive plurality:
Burung-burung itu juga diekspor ke luar negeri = "All those birds are also exported out of the country".
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 withme- prefixation, depending on the position of the prefixme-:
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.
Reduplication can convey a simple plural meaning, for instancewahine "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 examplemate "die",matemate "die in numbers"; and de-emphasis, for examplewera "hot" andwerawera "warm".
Reduplication can also extend the meaning of a word; for instancepaki "pat" becomespapaki "slap or clap once" andpakipaki "applaud";kimo "blink" becomeskikimo "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 thekohe bamboo (hence "bamboo-ish") in tropical islands,[51]
kawakawa (Piper excelsum) after the tropicalkawa (Piper methysticum, hence the former conveying a "kawa-ish" meaning),[52]
several ferns known aspiupiu (Parablechnum and others in their family) named after their fronds' shape resembling those of thepiu palm orPritchardia pacifica.[53]
TheMortlockese language is a Micronesian language spoken primarily on theMortlock 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".[54] 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/.[54]
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.[55]
Rapa is the French Polynesian language of the island ofRapa Iti.[56] 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.[56]
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.[56]
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):[56]
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'
Philippine languages are characterized as having the most productive use of reduplication, especially inTagalog (the basis of theFilipino language). Reduplication in Tagalog is complex. It can be roughly divided into six types:[57][58][59]
Monosyllabic; e.g.olol ("mad")
Reduplication of the final syllable; e.g.himaymay ("separate meat from bones"), fromhimay (same meaning)
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"), fromkalis ("to scrape")
Reduplication of the initial syllable of the root; e.g.susulat ("will write"), fromsulat ("to write")
Full reduplication; e.g.araw-araw ("every day"), fromaraw ("day" or "sun")
Combined partial and full reduplication; e.g.babalibaligtad ("turning around continually", "tumbling"), frombaligtad ("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").[57][58][59]
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.[57][58][59]
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".[60]
Number agreement for adjectives is entirely optional in Tagalog (e.g., a plural noun does not have to have a plural article marking it):[60]
"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 isvery pretty"
In verbs, reduplication of the root, prefix or infix is employed to convey differentgrammatical 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.[60] 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"
Reduplication is not a productive noun derivation process inWuvulu-Aua as it is in other Austronesian languages. Some nouns exhibit reduplication, though they are considered to be fossilized.[61]
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.[62]
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.[63]
As in manyTibeto-Burman languages, inBurmese, reduplication is used in verbs and adjectives to form adverbs.[64] Many Burmese words, especially adjectives such asလှပ ('beautiful'[l̥a̰pa̰]), which consist of two syllables (when reduplicated, each syllable is reduplicated separately), when reduplicated (လှပ →လှလှပပ 'beautifully'[l̥a̰l̥a̰pa̰pa̰]) becomeadverbs.[64] This is also true of many Burmese verbs, which become adverbs when reduplicated.[64]
Some nouns are also reduplicated to indicate plurality. For instance,ပြည်, means "country," but when reduplicated toအပြည်ပြည်, it means "many countries" (as inအပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ, "international"). Another example isအမျိုး, which means "kinds," but the reduplicated formအမျိုးမျိုး means "multiple kinds."
A few measure words can also be reduplicated to indicate "one or the other":
ယောက် (measure word for people) →တစ်ယောက်ယောက် (someone)
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[65] and that later, certain initial consonants were deleted, leaving the VCV pattern of Proto-Basque:
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