Numeral 2 as an indicator of repetition?

[Michael Witzel]

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The use of 2 for the plural is common in Indonesian:
orang2  = orang orang  "humans, people"
or most spectacular : knalpot2 = "exhausts (of car)"  ...

Cheers,
Michael


On Jun 16, 2008, at 10:11 PM, Richard Barz wrote:

> VYAKARAN: South Asian Languages and Linguistics Net
> Editors:  Tej K. Bhatia, Syracuse University, New York
>          John Peterson, University of Osnabrueck, Germany
> Details:  Send email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu and say: INFO  
> VYAKARAN
> Subscribe:Send email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu and say:
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>
> Dear Suren,
>
> Your question brought back the past.  I remember the numeral 2 used  
> in Hindi for the distributive in phrases like "baRe 2 log.." for  
> 'baRe baRe log..' mainly in very cheap popular and ephemeral  
> literature.  I don't remember that usage in any work of literary or  
> academic pretension or even in newspapers, though it may have come  
> in cheap magazines.  I can't remember seeing any example of this  
> usage since the 1970s or maybe 1980s.  I'm pretty sure that I never  
> saw the 2 usage in Urdu and I don't recall it in any language but  
> Hindi, but my experience with ephemeral literature in languages  
> other than Hindi or Urdu is very limited.
>
> I'm sure that the 2 usage was never as wide-spread or respectable  
> in Hindi as it evidently is or was in indicating repetition of a  
> word for the plural in Indonesian.
>
> In my memory the numeral 2 used in Hindi was always the  
> international "Arabic" form and never the Devanagari form.
>
> Please let me know what your findings are.
>
> With Best Wishes,
> Richard
>
> Suren Gambhir wrote:
>
>> VYAKARAN: South Asian Languages and Linguistics Net Editors: Tej  
>> K. Bhatia, Syracuse University, New York John Peterson, University  
>> of Osnabrueck, Germany Details: Send email to  
>> listserv at listserv.syr.edu and say: INFO VYAKARAN Subscribe:Send  
>> email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu and say: SUBSCRIBE VYAKARAN  
>> FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME (Substitute your real name for first_name  
>> last_name) Archives: http://listserv.syr.edu
>>
>> Dear members of the Listserv,
>>
>>
>> In what contexts and in which Indic languages do you remember the  
>> numeral 2 being used to indicate the repetition of the preceding  
>> word or the preceding line?
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you very much.
>>
>>
>>
>> Surendra Gambhir
>>
>> University of Pennsylvania
>>
>
> -- 
> Dr Richard Barz
> South Asia Centre
> Faculty of Asian Studies
> ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
> Building 110, Baldessin Precinct Building
> The Australian National University
> Canberra ACT 0200

Michael Witzel
> Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University,
> 1 Bow Street , 3rd floor, Cambridge MA 02138
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