Doubling

Colin Bruce cbruce at SMARTLINE.COM.AU
Tue Nov 26 04:32:27 UTC 2002


I'm looking at using word doubling more.  As far as I can tell it is not used to indicate a plural
or an iterative as in Maori and Nisga'a but an abundance, a producter, production or over
production.

Abundance/Overproduction
Wawa, should I use wawa for converstation and wa for word.  Or a line from Jacobs transcriptions
which included hayak hayak, "too quick"

Producer/Production
Pilpil, does that just mean blood or does it mean anything that stains red or produces an abundance
of red?  Does that mean that hayakhayak might then be extended to mean something that produces a lot
of speed or speeds things up:  accelerator.

Then I wondered about words that were already doubled.

chakchak = screacher?
kaka = crower?
chikchik = squeaker?
holhol = nibbler?
tsiltsil = twinkler?
pilpil = reddener?

could you then say:

spoohspooh = bleaching agent?
(maybe I'm thinking too much)

Does doubling have that kind of power?



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