LL-L "Morphology" 2003.08.12 (03) [E]

[Sandy Fleming]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Morphology
>
> In Afrikaans, this repetitive construction is used extensively, also as a
> type of intensifier; e.g., _Kom gou-gou!_ 'Come (quick-quick=) really
> quicky!',
>    'Come right away!'
> _Se hand was koud-koud_ 'Her hand was (cold-cold=) very cold',
>    'Her hand was icy cold.'
> _Ons het 'n groot-groot probleem_ 'We have an (big-big=) enormous
problem.'
> _In vorige eeue is prinse en prinsesse reeds klein-klein vir mekaar
> uitgesoek_
>    'In former centuries, princes and princesses used to be chosen for
>    each other (small-small=) already at a very early childhood age.

In Scots, a sort of repetition with variation can be used for this
small-small sort of thing, either "teeny-weeny" (very tiny) or
"peerie-weerie" (very "peerie" ie little). I suppose this corresponds to the
English "incie-wincie spider" construction, though I've never heard that in
English speech myself. There doesn't seem to be any sort of doubling in
Scots for other adjectives, though there is standard idiom for some, at
least in our area, such as "freezin cauld" (very cold), "bilin hot" (very
hot), "muckle big" (great big), and also "teeny wee" or "tottie wee" (very
small). Straightforward repetition of adjectives occurs too, though, as in
this riddle:

Come a riddle, come a riddle, come a rot-tot-tot,
A wee, wee man in a rid, rid coat,
A staff in his haun an a stane in his throat,
Come a riddle, come a riddle, come a rot-tot-tot.

(rid=red, stane=stone, the answer being "a cherry")

Doubling or sometimes even tripling, and sometimes with vowel alteration, is
used with verbs in Scots to indicate a continuous tense, or something like
it:

"He's aye greet-greetin" (He's always crying and crying)
"He wis nid-noddin in his sate" (He was dropping off to sleep in his chair
("noddin" means the head drooping in sleep then suddenly coming up awake
again))
"We'r aa noddin, nid-nid-noddin" (from a dirnking song)
"A Puddae then cam loup-loup-lowpin oot o the well" (a frog came hopping and
hopping from out of the well (from the Scots version of the Frog Prince -
see http://scotstext.org/makars/traditional_fairy_tales/tale_02.asp))

I think this sort of thing is more usual with verbs of one syllable with
short vowels rather than anything more complicated. "Girn-girnin" wouldn't
sound right to me because of the sylolabic "n", for example, but
"mump-mumpin" or "peendge-peendgin" seem fine.

greet /gri?/ - to cry
girn /gIr=n/ - to cry or make a sour face and whine
peendge /pi.ndZ/ - whinge, raise a tantrum
mump /mVmp/ - mutter complainingly

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/