Reduplication

In morphology, reduplication is an operation which copies some part (or all) of the base and attaches the copied element (the reduplicant) to the base. The copied element that is attached to the base is called reduplicant. Reduplication is a kind of non-linear morphology.

Example

Ponapean duhp 'dive', du-duhp 'be diving' (reduplication of a CV syllable, Rehg 1981:78).

Subtypes

• partial reduplication
• full reduplication
• prereduplication
• postreduplication

Origin

The use of this term in its modern sense goes back at least to the 18th century.

References

• Moravcsik, Edith A. 1978b. Reduplicative constructions. In: Greenberg, Joseph H. (ed.) Universals of Human Language. Vol. 3. Word Structure. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 297-334.
• Rehg, Kenneth. 1981. Ponapean reference grammar. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Other languages

German Reduplikation