[Lexicog] Reduplication

[Alexander Stein]

John,

I am far from an expert, but I think the reduplication in Papuan is part 
of a major linguistic feature in all Austronesian languages. I took some 
Bahasa Indonesia a while back, and both this and the Malaysian variant 
utilize reduplication for marking plural. It is really interesting all 
the same though.

Cheers,
_AJS

John Roberts wrote:
>
> bolstar1 wrote:
>
>> Folks: I just wanted to give you a taste of what I do for fun. It 
>> probably is not new to you, but you have liberty to use the forms 
>> below as examples in your own work, if you are a grammarian, teacher 
>> of rhetoric, or lexicographer using phrases in your work. 
>>      Reduplication (the doubling or repetition of a word, word 
>> element, or sound) is a common lexical form with a number of 
>> functions, basically rhetorical or emphatic. It expresses itself in 
>> all the grammatical parts of speech and through a number of 
>> rhetorical devices, most commonly 1) rhyming compounds  2) 
>> alliteration  3) assonance  4) echoisms. Poetry, for instance, is 
>> replete with reduplication. 
>>   
> For English reduplication is fun, but for Amele (Papuan) reduplication 
> is intergral to the grammatical system of the language. Check out this 
> sample:
>
> /jo /‘house’ /jo-jo /‘houses’
> /baga//c /‘leaf’ /baga//c-baga//c /‘thin’
>
> /cotig /‘brother’ /cotig-//cotig /‘brothers’
> /cebinag/ ‘sibling of opposite sex’ /cebinag-//cebinag/ ‘brother and 
> sister’
>
> /oso /‘one’ /oso-oso /‘anyone’
> /ana /‘where’ /ana-ana /‘wherever’’
>
> /me /‘good’ /me-me /‘very good, many good things’
> /nag /‘small’ /nag-nag /‘very small, many small things’
>
> /ca /‘add, with’ /ca-//ca /‘alike’
> /na /‘in, at’ /na-na /‘in every one, at every place’
>
> /fe//c /‘to see’ /fe//c-fe//c /‘seeing’
> /do//c /‘to know’ /do//c-do//c /‘knowing’
> /fe//ceb /‘he looked-DS’ /fe//ceb-fe//ceb e//c /‘to look at each other’
> /qo//cob /‘he hit-DS’ /qo//cob-qo//cob e//c /‘to hit each other’
> /qetudo//cob/ ‘he cut him-DS’ /qetudo//cob-qetudo//cob e//c/
> ‘to cut each other’
>
> fen ‘he saw’
> fefen ‘as he saw’
>
> qon ‘he hit’
> qoqon ‘as he hit’
>
>
> /dahig/ ‘his ear’ /da-dahig /‘ears of everyone’
> /dih /‘just’ /di-dih /‘just now’
>
> /ilalec /‘to dodge’ /i-ilalen /‘as he dodged’
> /odoc /‘to do’ /o-odon /‘as he did’
>
> /eben /‘his hand’ /eb-eben /‘hands of everyone’
> /abalec /‘to search with hands’ /ab-abalec /‘to search repeatedly with 
> hands’
> /iloec /‘to fall as small /il-iloec /‘to fall repeatedly as
> drops’ small drops’
>
> ihuldoc ‘to mix’ ihul-ihuldoc ‘to mix repeatedly’’
> ihul-ahaldoc ‘to mix haphazardly’
> ihul-ahal ‘a chaotic mix’
> gasuec ‘to search’ gasu-gasuec ‘to search repeatedly’
> gasu-gisiec ‘to search here and there’
> obut-ibit ‘stripes of alternate colours’
> faleec ‘to flash’ fale-faleec ‘to flash repeatedly’
> fale-fuleec ‘to flash intermittently’
> falicdoc ‘to turn’ falic-fulucdoc ‘to revolve’
> gilidoc ‘to move’ gili-golodoc ‘to move from side to side’
> gondoc ‘to turn aside’ gon-gindoc ‘to zigzag’
> gon-gin ‘a crooked path, a zigzag’
>
> John Roberts
>
>  


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