# Emphatic Reduplication In Languages



## Kasrav

North Indian languages, esp Hindi - has expressions/units of words that repeat for emphasis / intensity

jaldi-jaldi (quickly quickly)

ahista-ahista (slowly slowly)

baar-baar (again and again)

zara-zara (a little)


Is this limited to Hindi or are there other languages where this is used ?

Thanks in advance and hope this is the right place for this question
kasrav


----------



## rbrunner

This is very typical for the Philippine language Tagalog as well.

But it might be that this is present in nearly all languages, and that the languages differ only in the extent of using this. I think of things like the English exclamation _hush hush!_, or German _na na!_ or Swiss German _so so!_ French _vite vite_, and so on.


----------



## Treaty

Kasrav said:


> jaldi-jaldi (quickly quickly)
> ahista-ahista (slowly slowly)
> baar-baar (again and again)
> zara-zara (a little)



Basically, three of them are Persian. The fourth, _Baar-baar_ seems to be made of Persian _baar_ (time, turn) but not used in Persian. This structure is used frequently in Persian with both adjectives and nouns. Although, Indian has probably developed this structure independently. Anyway, does this structure exist with genuine Hindi words?


----------



## Wolverine9

_baar _is one of the words that's both genuine Hindi and Persian.

Other repeated words:

pal-pal = every moment

khaa-khaa = eat eat

jaa-jaa = go go

English has _hurry_, _hurry_; _no, no_; _very, very_, etc.  I'm sure there are many more in Hindi, English, and practically every language.


----------



## tFighterPilot

In Hebrew לאט לאט /le'át le'át/ "slowly slowly" is often used.


----------



## shawnee

Turkish, 'sık sık' - often.
Greek,   'σιγά σιγά' - slowly


----------



## ireney

Modern Greek has it too. I've read that we adopted it from Turkish but I just can't remember where I read it or if there's a term for the phenomenon. 
Λίγο λίγο (little), σιγά σιγά (slowly) etc. We even have one in Turkish: Γιαβάς-γιαβάς (slowly). I think in Turkish it's writen yavash yavash but I don't really speak the language I'm afraid.


----------



## bibax

In Czech we have:

1) lexicalized repetitions/reduplications of words (rather rare phenomenon in Czech), the new word has different meaning than its single component:

až = up to, until;
*ažaž* = more than enough, too much;
tak = so, this way;
*taktak* = barely, hardly;

2) syntactical repetitions (either syndetic or asyndetic) for stylistic or rhetoric purposes:

Bilbo *šel a šel a šel*, až došel na konec temného lesa. _(syndetic, with a conjunction)_
Bilbo went and went and went, until he reached the end of the dark forest.
Bilbo a marché longtemps, longtemps, longtemps, avant ... _(asyndetic, without a conjunction)_


----------



## shawnee

ireney said:


> M We even have one in Turkish: Γιαβάς-γιαβάς (slowly). I think in Turkish it's writen yavash yavash but I don't really speak the language I'm afraid.


 See 'yavaş yavaş'.


----------



## Ben Jamin

ireney said:


> Modern Greek has it too. I've read that we adopted it from Turkish but I just can't remember where I read it or if there's a term for the phenomenon.
> Λίγο λίγο (little), σιγά σιγά (slowly) etc. We even have one in Turkish: Γιαβάς-γιαβάς (slowly). I think in Turkish it's writen yavash yavash but I don't really speak the language I'm afraid.


 And what about "γιαλό γιαλό"?


----------



## ireney

Ben Jamin, yes, well, expressions like "γιαλό γιαλό" (shore) or "πόρτα πόρτα" (door), "τοίχο τοίχο" etc have a slightly different meaning. They are not duplicated for emphasis per se. It is to show hmmm continuity? consistency? I don't know how to put it.
If a ship is going γιαλό γιαλό it hugs the shore never, ever going far from it. If someone is making enquiries πόρτα πόρτα he's not leaving a single door un-knocked. Someone moving τοίχο τοίχο is keeping his back constantly pressed against a wall. And so on and so forth.


----------



## Tararam

tFighterPilot said:


> In Hebrew לאט לאט /le'át le'át/ "slowly slowly" is often used.



Also "יום יום" (yom yom) = every day. "לילה לילה" (layla layla) = every night.


----------



## jamesh625

Sooo apparently Japanese has the highest number of these "repeated words" but with many different types of words represented:
人々 people, many people (number)
ふわふわ /mimetic word/ (emphasis)
だんだん progressively (emphasis)
徐々 increasingly, progressively (emphasis, repetition)
なかなか quite, well (emphasis)
そろそろ now, about now (mimetic?)
様々 many, varied (number, repetition, array)
我々 we, us (number, archaic)
のろのろslowly, creeping (emphasis)
久々 for a long time (emphasis, number, duration)
……………
A lot of words that are classified as gitaigo (擬態語, mimetic words) and giongo (擬音語, onomatopoeia) are double words like this. As are many other words in Japanese. It's also a useful way of constructing new words!


----------



## Ben Jamin

Polish has "dawno, dawno, temu"(long time ago) as a standard element of legends and fairy tales.


----------



## bibax

We should distinguish between the lexicalized repetitions and the syntactical repetitions that serve for stylistic purposes (quite common in all languages).

Example of a syndetic repetition in English:

He understood that he had a problem, but he _*drank and drank and drank*_ (= he kept drinking) until he lost his job, and finally until he drank himself to death.

Example of an asyndetic repetition:

Once upon a time, a _*long long*_ time ago (= a very long time ago), when mice ran after cats and lions were chased by rats ...


----------



## Ben Jamin

bibax said:


> We should distinguish between the lexicalized repetitions and the syntactical repetitions that serve for stylistic purposes (quite common in all languages).
> 
> Example of a syndetic repetition in English:
> 
> He understood that he had a problem, but he _*drank and drank and drank*_ (= he kept drinking) until he lost his job, and finally until he drank himself to death.
> 
> Example of an asyndetic repetition:
> 
> Once upon a time, a _*long long*_ time ago (= a very long time ago), when mice ran after cats and lions were chased by rats ...


Which of them is  a lexicalized repetition, and which is a syntactical repetition?


----------



## myšlenka

Ben Jamin said:


> Which of them is  a lexicalized repetition, and which is a syntactical repetition?


Both of bibax's examples from English are syntactic repetitions (reduplication). His point from #15 is that there is a difference between reduplications which are there for stylistic purposes and the reduplications that serve to express grammatical functions like plurality or verbal aspect etc. There are languages where this is the only means to express these concepts. Most (if not all) European languages are of very little interest with respect to reduplication.


----------



## Kasrav

thank you all. Ireney 's post # 11 above on various "purposes" of repetition is what I wanted to check as well but could not express....sometimes it is not emphasis but a sense of continuity chalte chalte (walking walking) for instance would render perhaps as "As <subject> was walking" and not walking very intensely  are there any specialist terms for these functional uses...?


----------



## aruniyan

Kasrav said:


> thank you all. Ireney 's post # 11 above on various "purposes" of repetition is what I wanted to check as well but could not express....sometimes it is not emphasis but a sense of continuity chalte chalte (walking walking) for instance would render perhaps as "As <subject> was walking" and not walking very intensely  are there any specialist terms for these functional uses...?



In Tamil Grammer its called *Irattai KiLavi* (doubling words), often the word/sound is meaningless individually and to represent the  repeated nature of the action.
thiru thiru ena mulithaan - He looked *thiru thiru*
kudu kudu ena Odinaan - He ran *kudu kudu*
kuru kuru ena paarvai - He looked *kuru kuru*
mala mala ena mudithaan - he finished *mala mala* (fast doing)
vala vala ena pEsinaan - He talked *vala vala* (talkative)
viru viru ena nadai - walk *viru viru* (fast walking)
thaga thaga ena minnum - shining *thaga thaga
*mani maniyaai ena ezhuthum - writing _*mani mani*_,(beautifull like beads arranged)
a lot more is there...


----------



## Kasrav

thank you thank you


----------



## origumi

Such repeating is common in colloquial Hebrew - for nouns, adjectives, adverbs.


----------



## arielipi

origumi said:


> Such repeating is common in colloquial Hebrew - for nouns, adjectives, adverbs.



It can also act as a negation, טוב טוב tov tov [=good good] can be as "whatever, it doesnt matter"


----------



## Kasrav

arielipi said:


> It can also act as a negation, טוב טוב tov tov [=good good] can be as "whatever, it doesnt matter"



the more examples the friends in the forum give, the wider this topic gets (in a good way !)..I can relate to the "good good" example..however this "dismissive" quality of whatever, it doesnt matter is understood only in oral conversations based on the tone...is it different in Hebrew ? Does tov tov even in written form understood so ?


----------



## arielipi

Kasrav said:


> the more examples the friends in the forum give, the wider this topic gets (in a good way !)..I can relate to the "good good" example..however this "dismissive" quality of whatever, it doesnt matter is understood only in oral conversations based on the tone...is it different in Hebrew ? Does tov tov even in written form understood so ?



Well, in hebrew (as in any language i guess) the tone can change the meaning of things, tov tov can be very very well or what i said; it doesnt matter if its written or said, when said the tone tells you the true meaning, when written the context tells you the meaning.


----------



## Ёж!

arielipi said:


> It can also act as a negation, טוב טוב tov tov [=good good] can be as "whatever, it doesnt matter"


By the way, in Russian, too: «хорошо-хорошо!» can mean things around "I agree, but…" or "What you're talking of is well and good, but…", and the implied "but" can mean "but it does not matter"; sometimes, though, no 'but' is implied with these words. All in all, repetition in Russian often makes the emphasis of continuation or completion not on the action being narrated, but on the narration itself, for example: «он побежал быстро-быстро» ("he ran quickly-quickly") is like "look how I don't add anything to the word 'quickly', this word expresses everything that it's worth to say of how he was running", and the overall sense is positively diminutive in relation to him: for example, this phrase can appear in a tale about a hare.

Another example is: «он шёл медленно-медленно», it means that the speaker is wondered or amazed about how slowly the person was walking (even if he was not walking _very_ slowly); the overall sense of the speaker's wonder is rather positive. Alternatively, the speaker may just be talking figuratively: he suggests to compare the way how that person was walking with the way how the speaker is talking: without hurry, with carefulness and thoroughness.


----------



## origumi

Ёж! said:


> By the way, in Russian, too: «хорошо-хорошо!» can mean things around "I agree, but…" or "What you're talking of is well and good, but…", and the implied "but" can mean "but it does not matter";


Such development in Russian and Hebrew is not necessarily independent. Nearly 20% of Israeli Hebrew speakers are either Russian natives or first generation children of Russian natives. Significant Russian migration started during the 1970s, I am not sure when this "good good" evolved.


----------



## bazq

origumi said:


> Such development in Russian and Hebrew is not necessarily independent. Nearly 20% of Israeli Hebrew speakers are either Russian natives or first generation children of Russian natives. Significant Russian migration started during the 1970s, I am not sure when this "good good" evolved.



There's also "סוף סוף" - sof sof which means "finally/at last" (literally "end end").
Do you know its origins?


----------

