[Lingtyp] function of fully reduplicated nouns

Thu Aug 7 08:44:55 UTC 2025

dear Joseph, dear all,

Indeed the polysemy of reduplication is often fascinating, due to its
semantic versatility.

In Mwotlap (Oceanic, Vanuatu) reduplication can encode diminutive
*and* augmentative
values.

(1)   n-ēy    'lobster'
=>    n-*ēyēy*  'prawn'       [Diminutive reading]

(2)   n-ēm̄     *liwo     *=>   n-ēm̄     *lililwo*

/Art-house  large/            /Art-house  large~RED/
'a large house'   =>  a) 'a very large house'  [Intensive reading]
                      b) 'many large houses'   [Plural reading]

(3)  na-qyan̄     'a hole'  (typically one large hole, e.g. 2-feet wide)
     na-*qyaqyan̄*  'many small holes'  (e.g. on a sieve)

[Note:  Mwotlap doesn't encode grammatical plural on non-human referents;
so the plural reading is here implied by lexical derivation, rather than
being a grammatical plural.  Some human nouns form their grammatical plural
by reduplication.]

These uses of reduplication are exemplified and discussed in a paper (available
here <http://alex.francois.online.fr/AFpub_articles_e.htm#2004a>) where I
tried to address the semantic fluidity of reduplication:

   - François, Alexandre. 2004. *La réduplication en mwotlap : les
   paradoxes du fractionnement*.
   In É. Zeitoun (ed.),* Les langues austronésiennes*. Special issue of *Faits
   de langues* n°24: 177–194.

In a nutshell, I proposed to describe the effect of reduplication in
Mwotlap as a form of *semantic fragmentation*  ["fractionnement"].
If you take a large biscuit and smash it, you end up with

   - *less than* a biscuit    (= lots of small pieces of a biscuit, none of
   which is a full one)
   - *more than* a biscuit  (= lots of small biscuits)

The nominal uses of reduplication can be explained by the same sort of
semantic ambiguity, between "more" and "less".

Used with verbs, reduplication can encode such diverse values as
distributional, pluractional, iterative, habitual, imperfective,
intensional.
Just like with nouns, these verbal uses of reduplication can sometimes be
understood as "*augmentative*" in a way, through their pluractional /
iterative / intensive readings.  But in a different way, they are also akin
to "*diminutives*": because instead of a massive one-stroke act of
chopping, reduplication can refer to repeated, possibly unsuccessful,
mini-acts of quasi-chopping.

best
Alex
------------------------------

Alex François
LaTTiCe <http://www.lattice.cnrs.fr/en/alexandre-francois/> — CNRS
<https://www.cnrs.fr/en> — <https://www.cnrs.fr/en> ENS
<https://www.ens.fr/laboratoire/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-et-cognition-umr-8094>
–PSL <https://www.psl.eu/en> — Sorbonne nouvelle
<http://www.sorbonne-nouvelle.fr/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-cognition-umr-8094-3458.kjsp>
<http://www.sorbonne-nouvelle.fr/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-cognition-umr-8094-3458.kjsp>
<http://www.sorbonne-nouvelle.fr/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-cognition-umr-8094-3458.kjsp>
Australian National University
<https://researchportalplus.anu.edu.au/en/persons/alex-francois>
Personal homepage <http://alex.francois.online.fr/>
_________________________________________

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Camil Staps via Lingtyp <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2025 at 09:43
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] function of fully reduplicated nouns
To: Joseph Brooks <brooks.josephd at gmail.com>, Linguistic Typology <
lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>

Hi Joseph,

Contrastive focus reduplication offers a "prototypical" meaning, as in
SALAD-salad (green, as opposed to a tuna/fruit salad, say - see Ghomeshi et
al. 2004). It is attested in many languages, but does not match your
description "especially remarkable or exaggerated" exactly. Mattiola &
Barotto (2023) mention Kikuyu and Modern Greek as marking prototypicality
with full reduplication, and Alawa as marking it with partial
reduplication. They also recognize a function "intensification", marked by
partial reduplication in Luvale (e.g. cixika 'fever' → cixikaxika 'a great
fever'), Rukai, Tiri-Mea, and Tonga, and by echo reduplication in Western
Farsi.

I recently performed a cross-linguistic survey of functions of nominal
reduplication, which will appear in Linguistic Typology. In addition to the
languages already mentioned, I found a prototypicality meaning (or
something similar) expressed by full reduplication in Nande (Mutaka 1990):

- aká-húka 'insect' → aká-húká-húka 'real insect' (aká- is an initial vowel
and stem prefix; the stem is fully reduplicated).

Other possibly relevant examples, with partial reduplication, from Tswana
(Krüger 2006: 41, 43, without bases):

- mogologolo 'a very old man'
- tautau 'a real strong lion'

... Turkmen (Clark 1998: 510):

- gap-gara 'coal black'
- gıp-gırmıδı 'bright red'
- gap-garaŋkı 'pitch dark'
- tap-takır 'smooth as silk'
- čıp čınım 'absolute truth'

... and Zimbabwean Ndebe (Hyman & Sibanda 2008: 307):

- ku-gulu 'leg' → ku-gulu.gulu 'a real leg'
- bi-la 'intestines' → bi-la.bi-la 'real intestines'

Thai has a precision/intensive meaning marked by echo reduplication (Noss
1964: 71):

- /phləən/ 'to be absorbed → /phl^əəd-phləən/ 'completely engrossed'
- /n`yaj/ 'to be tired' → /nèd-n`yaj/ 'exhausted'
- /klaaŋ/ 'middle, amidst' → /thâam-klaaŋ/ 'exact center'

Finally, Tsou has a parallel for the "place known for ..." in Chini,
expressed with parallel reduplication (Tung 1964: 169):

- púzu 'fire' → pupúzu 'fireplace (where there is plenty of fire)'
- pái 'rice plant' → papái 'rice field (where rice plants are many)'

Jaqaru also has a partial reduplication pattern with this meaning. I don't
have access to the original example from where I'm writing, but Hardman
(2000: 52–53) mentions at least 'rock' → 'area with many rocks' and 'house'
→ 'place with many houses'.

The Tsou and Jaqaru patterns do not include a prototypical/intensive
meaning component though.

All best,
Camil

--
Dr. Camil Staps
Leibniz Centre General Linguistics (ZAS)

On 2025-8-7 00:45, Joseph Brooks via Lingtyp wrote:

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone knows of any (cross-ling or for specific languages)
work on this type of construction where a noun/phrase can be fully
reduplicated for a superlative function or other meanings such as an
especially remarkable or exaggerated instance of something. For ex in Chini
(Lower Sepik-Ramu, PNG) anggunu 'mosquito' vs anggunu anggunu '(place known
for) especially bad mosquitoes'. Or as in English 'man's man', 'deal of
deals'.

Thanks,
Joseph

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