Numeral 2 as an indicator of repetition?

[Ghanshyam Sharma]

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In addition to the linguistic usages of the numeral 2 in Hindi as
described by Richard Barz, it is possible to find such usages in Hindi
songs and prayers as well, although they are merely repeat marks of the
preceding line and thus of different nature altogether (i.e., the number 2
in such cases is not a plural marker).

Best wishes,

Ghanshyam Sharma


>
> 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:
>
>>
>> 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
>