# Coincidental Reduplication



## Messquito

In English, "pretty" can mean two things: 1. adj. good-looking 2. adv. very. That's why we can make a phrase "pretty pretty," as in "She is pretty pretty." In this case, the word "pretty" seems to be doubling but the two of them certainly do not mean the same.

There's one example of Chinese (in Taiwan) I can think of: 好 means 1. adj. good/nice, 2. adv. very/so. So we have this very common phrase 好好(háo hǎo):
好好喔！ That's so good. (implying: I so envy that!)
她好好看！She is so good-looking!
那電影好好看！ That movie is very "nice to watch(-->interesting to watch)"!
遊戲好好玩！ The game is very "nice to play(-->entertaining)"!
(Not to be confused with 好好(hǎo hao)(properly), which is sheer reduplication here.)
Like the English "pretty pretty", 好好(háo hǎo) isn't just a simple example of reduplication where a word doubles for certain reasons (sounding cute?emphasis?rhythm?); it is somewhat a coincidence because it is two words put together happening to be in the same form.

I for one think this is a very rare phenomenon in languages since I could only find respectively one example for English (I am not sure if "so-so" is one) and Chinese, but I would like to know if this exists in other languages, too!

Thanks!


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## Gavril

I wouldn't consider _so-so_ an example of this phenomenon (it is more like a fixed phrase). However, you could make examples similar to "pretty pretty" using other intensifying adverbs:

- "He's mad mad" = He is very angry (_mad_ is used by some English speakers as an intensifier, and more generally as an adjective meaning "angry")

- "He's right right" = He is very right

- etc.

You can also do this sometimes with words that have become interjections:

"Dude, dude!" (The first _dude_ is an exclamation of surprise/disbelief, the second _dude_ refers to the adressee.)

"Why, why would he say that?" (The first _why_ expresses surprise at what you have just heard; the second _why_ is the normal interrogative pronoun.)


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## Delvo

English sometimes gets "had had". "Have" is both a verb on its own and the auxiliary we use for the past participle form of almost any other verb. For an example, consider the case of someone eating lunch:

"She ate lunch": past tense; it already happened.

"She had eaten lunch": at some particular time which is now in the past, the past-tense statement "she ate lunch" was _already_ true; it "had" already happened.

And the structure stays the same when you switch from another verb like "eat" to "have":

"He had a gold watch": past tense

"He had had a gold watch": at some particular time which is now in the past, the past-tense statement "he had a gold watch" was already true.


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## ThomasK

I can see reduplication only as a repetition of for example an adj. to emphasize it: _lekker, lekker_ (good, good ==> delicious)...

Intensifiers (adv.) generally seem to be negative: _terribly, awfully_, etc., in all languages.


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## Panceltic

There are cases in Slovenian, most notably:
_je je_ (he first _je_ is the feminine personal pronoun in the genetive case, and the other is 3rd person present tense of the verb "to be")
_si si_ (the first _si_ is the reflexive personal pronoun in the dative case, and the other is 2nd person present tense of the verb "to be")
_da da_ (the first _da_ is a subordinate conjunction, and the other is 3rd person present tense of the verb "to be")


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## ger4

In German, you could (theoretically) say:
_Sie ist ganz schön schön_ < _sie ist_ = she is_ + ganz schön = _pretty, quite (adverb)_ + schön = _pretty (adjective)

Another case where reduplication can occur is when the pronoun _sie_ appears consecutively in different functions - after all, it can be:
- she/her - 3rd person (feminine) singular, nominative/accusative
- they/them - 3rd person (all genders) plural, nom./acc.
- you - polite form of address, sg, nom./acc.
- you - polite form of address, pl, nom./acc.
The polite forms are spelt with an initial capital letter. So, at least in writing, the number of options is reduced slightly...

/zi:t zi: zi:/
_Sieht sie Sie ?_ = Does she see you?
_Sieht sie sie?_ = Does she see her? = Does she see them?

/ze:ən zi: zi:/
_Sehen Sie sie?_ = Do you see her? = Do you see them?
_Sehen sie sie?_ = Do they see her? = Do they see them?
_Sehen sie Sie?_ = Do they see you?


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## ThomasK

I am wondering whether we should not be discussing functional reduplication. I mean: a repetition meant to emphasize something. I am afraid some of the above examples are reduplications, but not functional.


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## Gavril

I thought that the whole focus of this question was reduplications that are not purposeful (i.e. not intended to be reduplications), but instead are the result of combining two homonyms, such as _right_ (the intensifying adverb) plus _right_ (the adjective).


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## ThomasK

I may be mistaken! I thought M's sentences are like intensified value judgments...


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## Delvo

Another one in English: "that that"

One use of "that" is to connect two statements together with the first one referring in some way to the second one:
"The Air Force says that the new bombers are ready for combat."
"The evidence indicates that the vandals were looking for something specific."

Another use of "that" is to indicate a thing without naming it, like pronouns such as "he/she/it/you/I/we/they", usually at the beginning of a statement:
"That's a very big truck."
"That tree is swaying in the wind."

So if you use "that" to connect two statements (first use), and the second one begins with "that" on its own (second use), you get "that" twice in a row:
"I don't believe that that is really what she thinks."
"So you're telling me that that dog is harmless."

* * *

And another one that got common enough in English a few years ago to start getting over-applied even to situations where it didn't follow from its origin or really make any sense at all: "is is"!

It began with just another coincidence: sometimes a phrase being used as a sentence's subject could end with "is", and the sentence's verb, coming right after the subject, would also be "is". For example, if two people were debating what's going wrong in a place of business, one might say "The problem is that the manager is incompetent", while another might say "The problem is that there aren't enough employees". Because they're disagreeing about the identification of "the problem", one of them, particularly in response to the other, might rephrase "the problem" as "what the problem is". And when "what the problem is" is put back into one of those sentences as the subject, we would get "What the problem is is that there aren't enough employees".

The really weird part about that one is another step that some people have started taking from that point: removing the "what", so we're back to the original simpler "the problem" construction instead of "what the problem is", but leaving the extra "is" in there for no purpose at all: "The problem is-is that there aren't enough employees".

Do not do this! Yes, there are native English speakers who do it, but they infuriate other native English speakers!


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## Panceltic

Are you suggesting that that "that" that we are discussing here can be used four times in a row?


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## frugnaglio

^Of course, but that ‘that that “that” that’ that you just used can't, unless Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.


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## Gavril

Another pattern in English involves words like _on_,_ along_, _off_ etc., which can function as prepositions in some contexts, but as adverbs in other contexts:

- _He decided to move along along the same narrow path he had been travelling. _(The first "along" is an adverb, part of the verb-phrase _to move along_ (= "to keep moving"); the second "along" is a preposition attached to the noun-phrase "the same narrow path".)

- _He pressed on on his journey._ (The phase _press on_ means to keep moving (despite difficulties); the second _on_ is the preposition.)

- _They stopped off off the old toll road._ (_to stop off_ = to make a (usually quick) stop; _off the old toll road_ = just alongside the old toll road)

Some see this kind of repetition as confusing (or stylistically bad), so people will sometimes try to avoid it by substituting the second word with a semantically similar one (e.g. _He moved along on the same narrow path_) or by inserting something else between the two homonyms (e.g. _They stopped off somewhere off the old toll road_).


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## Dymn

In Catalan I can think of:
- _M'ho va _*fer fer*: 'He made me do it'. _Va fer _'he did'; _fer _'to do'.
- _Té _*força força*: 'He has quite strength'. _Força _'quite', _força _'strength'.

And a tongue twister (easy one):
- _En _*cap cap cap *_el que _*cap *_en aquest _*cap. *'It doesn't fit in any head what fits in this head'. _*Cap* _'no, any'; _*cap*_ 'head'; _*cap*_ 'it fits'.


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## Messquito

Another one in Chinese:
畫畫 (draw a drawing) hùa hùa


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## 810senior

In Japanese, there's one I can recall: みてみる_mi-te mir-u_(I'm gonna see it, I'll check it out), lit. I'll see and see it.

other ones:
すごいすごいsugoi sugoi lit. wonderful[adverb] wonderful[adjective] (actually means pretty good or something)
えらいえらいerai erai lit. proud[adverb] proud[adjective] (actually means I'm quite proud of you, which sounds somewhat childish)


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## Messquito

Another one in Chinese:
多多(duo2duo1)＝How many/much
你看這裡人有多多啊！ Look at how many people there are!


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## franknagy

In Hungarian "az" means 1) that 2) the.
They do not exclude each other as in English:
Az az ember = That man.

Another example:
nyúl = 1. rabbit (noun) 2. totouch (verb).
kinyúl = to peg out.

Q: Meddig nyúl a nyúl? 
A. Amíg ki nem nyúl.


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## ancalimon

Turkish:

deli: very
deli: mad

deli deli: very mad
deli güzel: very beautiful


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## franknagy

The Turkish word deli had come in the Hungarian as a noun in the meaning "brave warrior" then it  has got the adjective meaning "stately, tall (boy)". Its current form is the present Hungarian language is "délceg".
===> The following sentece has sense in Hungarian:
"Ő egy deli deli." = "He's a tall warrior."


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## Encolpius

franknagy said:


> Q: Meddig nyúl a nyúl? A. Amíg ki nem nyúl.



 That's a good one. 

Kiss - Surname, kis- small, little

Szép kis Kiss vagy. You are a right Kiss.


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## Encolpius

*Czech *
jen 1. only 2. Japanese yen

- Jé, to je americký dolar! - Ne, to je *jen jen*. (Wow, it's US dollar! - No it is only yen.)

jak 1. how 2. yak (animal)

Cítím se *jak jak*. (I feel like a yak)

taky 1. too 2.bat plants

Dostala jsi *taky taky*? (did you also get bat plants?)

na to 1. on that 2 NATO

A co *na to NATO*? (and what was NATO's respose?)


*Italian*

You can call an autistic driver: *un autista autista 
*
nella - in the;  Nella girl name

nella Nella - in the Nella . I'd rather write no sentence.

*
German
*
Das ist die Frau, *die die* Bundeskanzlerin noch nicht eingeladen hat.
Das ist das Kind, *das das* Auto umgefahren hat.
Haben *Sie sie* gesehen?


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## Armas

The best known Finnish sentence with coincidental reduplication is the following:

_Etsivät etsivät aitoja aitoja kepeillä kepeillä_. "Detectives are looking for genuine fences with light sticks."

_etsivät_ plural nominative < _etsivä_ "detective"
_etsivät_ pl 3rd present < _etsiä_ "to look for"
_aitoja_ pl. partitive < _aito_ "genuine"
_aitoja_ pl. partitive < _aita_ "fence"
_kepeillä_ pl. adessive < _kepeä_ "light"
_kepeillä_ pl. adessive < _keppi_ "stick"


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## Encolpius

*Portuguese *

se 1. if 2. reflexive pronoun

Eu me pergunto *se se* pode fazer vinho da cereja

*Hungarian *- _*coincidental reduplication within** a word*_ in synthetic languages (I wonder if it is possible in other languages)

hat - to have effect
-hat/-het - suffix of to be able

*hathat* -  A kúra befejezésekor is* hathat* a gyógyszer? (Can the medicine have effect after the discontinuation of treatment?)

*German *
fassen - er fasst
fast
Die Bibliographie *fasst fast* fünfzig Jahre eines abwechslungsreichen dramatischen Schaffens *zusammen*.
(from the verb zusammen.fassen)


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## ilocas2

Czech:

V okolí maďarského města Tokaj tokaj dropi. - Bustards are doing the mating call in the surroundings of Hungarian town Tokaj.


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## ilocas2

Slovak:

V maďarskom meste Komárom komárom chutila moja krv. - My blood was tasty for mosquitos in Hungarian town Komárom.


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## Encolpius

*English *

When *will Will* be back?


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## apmoy70

In Classical & Koine Greek this phenomenon was common in order to express emphasis, and often compounds were formed with two identical words (intensive reduplication) e.g:
-V. *«μυρμύρω» mŭrmúrō* & *«μορμύρω» mŏrmúrō* --> _(of water) to bubble up, foam, roar and boil_ < *«μυρ-» + «-μυρ-» + *verbal suffix* «-ρω» mur- + -mur-* *+* -*rō *(onomatopoeic) cf Skt. मुर्मुर (murmura), _crackling fire_, Lat. murmurāre, _to murmur_.

-V. *«ὁλολύζω» hŏlŏlúzō* --> _to cry out loudly, to call, shout with joy, moan (to the gods)_ < *«ὁλ-» + «-ολ-» +* verbal suffix *«-ύζω» hŏl- + -ŏl- + -úzō* (onomatopoeic) cf Skt. उलूलि (ulūli), _crying outloud_, Lat. ululāre.

-Adv. *«πάμπαν» pámpan* < adv. *«πᾶν» + «πᾶν» pân + pân* with assimilation < adverbialised neut. of the nominal *«πᾶς» pâs* --> _whole, all, every_ (PIE *ph₂-ent- _all_ cf ToA/B pont- _all_).

-Adv. *«προπρό» prŏpró* --> _on and on, thoroughly_ < adv. *«πρός» + «πρός» prós + prós* (PIE *proti- _against_ cf Skt. प्रति (prati), _about, to_, Lat. pretium, Proto-Slavic *protivъ, _against_ > Rus. против, Cz/Slo./Svk proti, OCS противъ > BCS protiv/против, Bul. против).

-Adv. *«πρόπροθι» próprŏtʰĭ* --> _forwards_ < adv. *«πρός» + «πρός» +* adverbial suffix *«-θι»* (for adverbs of location: _at, in, on_) *prós+prós + -tʰi* (see above).

-V. *«προπροκυλίνδομαι» prŏprŏkŭlíndoma̯i* (1st p. sing. Present Indicative Mediopassive voice) --> _keep rolling before another (as a suppliant), roll at his feet_ < *«πρός» + «πρός» +* mediopassive v. *«κυλίνδομαι» kŭlíndŏma̯i* of active v. *«κυλίνδω» kŭlíndō *(with unclear etymology).

In the Christian Scripture intensive reduplication is a common rhetorical scheme:
(Psalm 79 (80 in western bibles)) «Κύριε, Κύριε ἐπίβλεψον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἴδε καὶ ἐπίσκεψαι τὴν ἄμπελον ταύτην καὶ κατάρτισαι αὐτήν, ἣν ἐφύτευσεν ἡ δεξιά Σου» "O Lord, Lord, Look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine and the vineyard which Your right hand has planted."

(Matthew 7:21) «Οὐ πᾶς ὁ λέγων μοι Κύριε Κύριε, εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν» "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven"


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## ilocas2

Když jsme se blížili k maďarskému městu Záhony, záhony cibule lemovaly silnici. - When we were approaching to Hungarian town Záhony, beds of onion lined the road.


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## jazyk

A Spanish one I've just made up: Las brujas de Brujas brujulean (Bruges witches wander).


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## Dymn

Catalan:

_És millor que ho entengueu* que que* us ho memoritzeu.
_
"It's better that you understand it *than that* you learn it by heart".


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## Messquito

Encolpius said:


> *English *
> 
> When *will Will* be back?


That triggered my memory of a joke: Will Will Smith smith?


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## ger4

Encolpius said:


> Das ist das Kind, *das das* Auto umgefahren hat.


 That's a good, real-life example... I couldn't resist adding: _Dass das das Kind überlebt hat, ist unglaublich_. It is unbelievable that the child survived that.

_Dass das "dass", das am Satzanfang steht, anders geschrieben wird, liegt daran, dass es eine Konjunktion ist. _The reason why (lit. 'that') the _"dass"_ that appears at the beginning of the sentence is spelt differently is that it is a conjunction.

Edit: adding colours


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## Encolpius

*Czech*: Chce *se se* mnou jen vyspat. (She just want to have sex with me)
se - reflexive pronoun, se - with (instrumental)


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## hui

Encolpius said:


> *Hungarian *- _*coincidental reduplication within** a word*_ in synthetic languages (I wonder if it is possible in other languages)


*Finnish *(not very common but not too difficult to come up with):

*hänhän* = yet he/she
hän = he or she
-hän = yet (or something similar)

*jakojako* = "you mean divisions?"
jako = division, partition
-ja- = plural partitive
-ko = interrogative

*valtavalta* = from huge
valtava = huge
-lta = from

*kokoko* = "you mean size?"
koko = size
-ko = interrogative

*nenineni* = with my nose
nenä = nose
-ine- = with
-ni = my

*tyytyy* = is satisfied, settles
tyytyä = to be satisfied, settle

*tullatulla* = with (something that is) cleared through customs
tullata = declare, clear through customs
tullattu = declared

*mättämättä* = without shoveling
mättää = to shovel

*säkäänsäkään* = not even his/her luck
säkä = luck
(-än- = into)
-(n)sä- = his or her
-kään = not even

*ansaansa* = (into) his or her trap
ansa = trap
-an- = into
-(n)sa = his or her

*uinuin* = I slept
uinua = sleep (poetic)
[uin = I swim/swam]

*asiasi* = your thing
asia = thing
-si = your

(etc.)


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## Encolpius

Wow, hui, that's really fantastic!  Now I will think about similar examples in Hungarian.
(And welcome to the forum)

*Czech*:
As I have mentioned in this thread, many Czech verbs can work as Surnames, so it is possible to create many coincidental redulplications. One of the famous Czech authors is Bohumil Hrabal. Hrabal means "he raked". *Hrabal hrabal* listí na hromady.

There is a famous Hungarian poem (here) and there is a coincidental redup.:

meglepem magam magam (I myself, surprise, myself)

tanítani - is almost an interverbal redup.


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## jazyk

A good one in Finnish.

And one in English.

And quite a few in Japanese.


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## Red Arrow

Gavril said:


> - "He's mad mad" = He is very angry (_mad_ is used by some English speakers as an intensifier, and more generally as an adjective meaning "angry")


In *Dutch*, some people use ziek or vies as an intensifier.

Hij is *vies vies*. = He is very dirty.
Hij is *ziek ziek*. = He is very sick.

I think these intesifiers are only used by the Flemish youth. And people who use 'ziek' as an intensifier, find the other intesifier weird and vice versa. (I personally use neither)


Holger2014 said:


> That's a good, real-life example... I couldn't resist adding: _Dass das das Kind überlebt hat, ist unglaublich_. It is unbelievable that the child survived that.
> 
> _Dass das "dass", das am Satzanfang steht, anders geschrieben wird, liegt daran, dass es eine Konjunktion ist. _The reason why (lit. 'that') the _"dass"_ that appears at the beginning of the sentence is spelt differently is that it is a conjunction.
> 
> Edit: adding colours


In Dutch: *Dat dat *kind *dat* overleefd heeft, is ongelofelijk/ongelooflijk!


Encolpius said:


> When *will Will* be back?


In Dutch: Ik *ben Ben*. = I am Ben. / My name is Ben.


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian *

seven weeks - hét hét (hét 1. seven 2. week)
it was 8 volts - 8 volt volt (volt 1. volt 3. was)
the Lett were the first - a lettek lettek az elsők (lett 1. became 2. Lett)

*Czech*:

*Je-li to jelito* jedlé.

*German*:
Die *Waren waren* alle auf Regalen.

*French*: its sound - son son


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## ancalimon

Here's something funny that can happen in Turkish. 
ya yaya yayaya yaya yaya gülümsedi.

The pedestrian smiled broadly at another pedestrian.


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## Encolpius

Fascinating, can you mark which Turkish word means what? Thanks.


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## ancalimon

Ya, yaya yayaya yaya yaya gülümsedi.

Ya: (something like hey, or yo!  )

yaya: pedestrian
yayaya: to the pedestrian, at the pedestrian
yaya yaya: broadly  (from yay: What is yaymak - Sesli Sözlük )
gülümsedi: smiled


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## Messquito

French: Si ton tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu.


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## Encolpius

Reduplication within a word is possible in Slavic and maybe more languages I have thought.

Czech: the boys were pouring (chlapci *lili*... < lít to pour)


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## jazyk

A nonsense one in Hungarian: Ír az ír és sír a sír. (The Irishman writes and the grave weeps).

One in German: Die Seine könnte seine sein (The Seine could be his.), even though the French rives looks in print like the other words, but is pronounced differently.


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## Messquito

你有過過生日嗎？ Have you celebrated birthdays before? 你有過過馬路嗎？ Have you ever crossed the road?
過＝1. to go across, to cross, to spend time over, etc. 2. to have V. (past perfect tense)
It's a reduplication both character-wise and sound-wise, like the 畫畫 above.

了了(liao3le)＝瞭了＝了解了＝瞭解了
了(liao3)＝瞭＝understand
了(le)＝past tense marker
It's a reduplication character-wise but not sound-wise, like 好好 and 多多.

p.s. all of these sets are common in Chinese, especially in speaking.

English: The woman that I loved loved another woman.
The girl was still still in the chair watching TV.


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## franknagy

Hungarian: Duplication of preverbs mean intermittent and repeated action:

"*Meg*-*me*gáll". He/she is dtopping and is peeping walking again and again.


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## Messquito

長長(zhang3chang2) grow long


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## ilocas2

famous Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian/Montenegrin sentence:

Gore gore gore gore. - The forests/mountains up there burn worse.


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## franknagy

jazyk said:


> A nonsense one in Hungarian: Ír az ír és sír a sír. (The Irishman writes and the grave weeps).


Ég az ég = The sky is burning.
Nem vár téged a vár. = The castle does not wait for you.
Fogom a fogam. = I am holding my tooth.

Joke: How do you conjugate the körte? (pear)
Én körte = I pear,
te körte = you pear,
ökör te = ox you.

These coincidences are absolutely logical within the Hungarian language:

nap = 1. day 2. sun,
hét = 1. seven 2. week.
óra = 1. hour 2. clock.



Panceltic said:


> There are cases in Slovenian, most notably:
> _je je_


The Hungarian language requires the definite article after demonstrative pronouns.
So
"Az az ember" means "that man".
The fragment
"ki-ki a párjával" means "each on with his/her pair/partner".

Ár = 1. bodkin (peaky tool or the shoemaker; 2. price 3. flood.
Shoemaker's claim:
"Nagy árat fizettem. Az ár elsodorta a műhelyemet. Elvesztettem az utolsó áramat is."
= "I have paid a big price. The flood has drifted away my shop. I have lost my even last bodkin."


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## francisgranada

jazyk said:


> A nonsense one in Hungarian: Ír az ír és sír a sír. (The Irishman writes and the grave weeps).


I expand it a bit (rendering it even more nonsense ):

Az ír ír, a sír sír, a vár vár  (The Irishman writes, the grave weeps, the castle waits)


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## Messquito

Only people in the know know.


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## Red Arrow

You can also make nonsensical sentences in Dutch with animals.

*Spinnen spinnen.* (Spiders are purring (like a cat).  )
*Spinnen spinnen hun web.* (Spiders are making their web.)
*IJsberen ijsberen.* (Icebears are walking nervously in circles.)


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## Testing1234567

I know one in Korean: 봐봐 (bwa bwa) = try to see

They're completely the same verb, but they can be considered homophones. The base form for both verbs is 보다 (boda) to see/try.


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## Messquito

I cursed the day I was born the day I was born.


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## Messquito

Chinese:
你不聽他的話的話，...
If you don't listen to his words,...


810senior said:


> In Japanese, there's one I can recall: みてみる_mi-te mir-u_(I'm gonna see it, I'll check it out), lit. I'll see and see it.





Testing1234567 said:


> I know one in Korean: 봐봐 (bwa bwa) = try to see
> 
> They're completely the same verb, but they can be considered homophones. The base form for both verbs is 보다 (boda) to see/try.


Japanese, Korean and Mandarin can be similar in some ways.
We could have made similar structures with coincidental reduplication in this way:
みてみる
봐봐
*看看看
We also use "see" to mean "try", but we reduplicate the verb first. So 看 means _to see_ and 看看 means _to try_. 摸看看 means _to try to touch_. In this case, 看看 (to try) is not coincidental, but if you say 看看看(try to see), it would be somehow coincidental.
However, maybe because we are not so familiar with this kind of *triple* reduplication, we usually replace 看看看 with only 看看。


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## igusarov

Russian.
Right now I can only come up with _intentional_ reduplication. There are a few joke phrases carefully crafted to surprise an unprepared listener:

1. "Косил Косой косой косой" = "A hare was mowing with a crooked scythe".
Key to understanding:
"Косой" is the nominative case of the colloquial nickname for a hare in fairy-tales.
"Косил" is the third person singular form of the past tense of the verb "косить" = "to mow".
"Косой" is the instrumental case of the feminine adjective "косая" = "crooked".
"Косой" is the instrumental case of the noun "коса" = "scythe".
So, all the words are actually different, and it is the inflection that made them look the same.

2. "Зомби зомби зомби" = "A zombie is a zombie to another zombie".
This is a parody on Latin "Homo homini lupus est", "A man is a wolf to another man".
In Russian that original Latin saying reads: "Человек человеку волк", taking advantage of the fact that noun cases may convey certain meaning without prepositions. For example, a sentence "человек собаке друг" is perfectly understandable: "a man is a friend to a dog". But then, if you substitute a noun with zero declension (i.e. all cases look the same), you get a confusing sentence consisting of the same word repeated three times.

3. "Как Ока?" = "What do you think about Oka?"
The thing here is that this phrase is pronounced as "kakaka" which sounds funny and meaningless, leaving no chance to reconstruct the intended meaning. "Oka" could mean either a river name or a local car make.


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## Messquito

以以下方式 (in the following ways)


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## LoQuelcomiste

*BOTH IN CATALAN & SPANISH (and probably italian, too)
*
_Sí -> _Yes
_Si _-> If


So we've got the combination _si sí:_
*Cat: *_Dis si sí o si no._
*Spa: *_Dí si sí o si no._
*Eng: *_Tell me whether it's yes or it's no.
_​
And we have the combination _sí si_ (or _sí, si_), too:
*Cat: *_Puc anar-me'n? Sí, si vols._
*Spa: *_Puedo marcharme? Sí, si quieres._
*Eng: *_Can I leave? Yes, if you want to._​Both are very common.

*
ANOTHER ONE IN SPANISH: *

_¿Qué cómo como? ¡Como como como!_

*ENGLISH: *_How do I eat? I eat just my way!


¿Qué cómo como? ¡Como como como!_

_Qué: a formula to start a question when you are referring to someone's previous statement or question._

_cómo: how_

_como: 1rst person form of _comer_ (to eat)_

_como: comparative form (as or like)_


And, yes, it's actually the natural way to say it.


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## apmoy70

In Greek coincidental reduplication happens mostly, when a post-nominal clitic genitive personal pronoun, is followed by a pre-verbal clitic genitive personal pronoun in the same person, e.g:
*«Η αδελφή μου, μου άφησε τα κλειδιά της»* [i aðelˈfi mu mu ˈafise ta kliðˈʝa tis] --> _the sister of-mine, left me her keys_.

The first *«μου»* [mu] (1st p. personal pronoun in genitive) is post-nominal clitic and expresses possession, while the immediately following *«μου»* [mu] (1st p. personal pronoun in genitive) is pre-verbal clitic and expresses indirect object.

One more example:
*«Ο παππούς του, του άφησε το ρολόϊ του»* [o paˈpus tu tu ˈafise to ɾoˈlo.i tu] --> _the grandfather of-his, left him, his watch_.

The first *«του»* [tu] (3rd p. personal pronoun, genitive singular masc.) is post-nominal clitic and expresses possession, while the immediately following *«του»* [tu] (3rd p. personal pronoun, genitive singular masc.) is pre-verbal clitic and expresses indirect object.

The reduplication is the result of the obsoleted dative in the modern language, some 50 years ago, in *Katharevousa*, the second «μου» would have been *«μοὶ»* [mi] (dative) and the second «του» would have been *«αὐτῷ»* [afˈto] (3rd p. personal pronoun, dative singular masculine).


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## Dymn

More in *Catalan*:

_Com ho fas? _- How do you do it?
_Com «com ho fas»?_ - How «how do you do it»? (i.e. (s)he doesn't understand what the asker meant with their question)
_
Si véns o no no m'importa. _I don't care if you come or not.


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## Kotlas

1. A _second-hand shop _is a shop which sells goods that are not new. So if you say, for example:
Last month he opened his *second second*-hand shop,

you will have "coincidental reduplication".

2. When I introduce the ordinal numeral *second* to my students, I always mention its _second _meaning, which is _the sixtieth part of a minute of time_. (I was tempted to write "I always mention the *second*'s second meaning", but resisted it).
So all my students know how to count seconds in English : the first second, the second second, etc). And here is a sentence I just found on the internet:
"But, as we see it, the first second is faster than the* second second*, which is faster than the third second."
There is also an Italian version of it:
"Ma, per come lo vediamo noi, il primo secondo... è più veloce del *secondo secondo*, che è più veloce del terzo secondo."


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## Messquito

All the money that he had had had had no effect on his sadness.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
The farm was used to produce produce.

French:
Les poules du couvent couvent.


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## Red Arrow

Messquito said:


> All the money that he had had had had no effect on his sadness.


In Dutch, you need to put a comma in between groups of verbs.

All the money that he had had, had had no effect on his sadness.


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## bibax

Czech:
Kuli kuli kuli.

1. kuli = coolie, 苦力;
2. kuli = forged (past participle of the verb kouti, to forge [as a blacksmith]);
3. kuli = rifle ball (acc. sing.);

Ostřím ostřím.

1. ostřím = I edge/sharpen or I am edging/sharpening (1st pers. sing. ind. present);
2. ostřím = with/by the [knife] edge/blade (instr. sing.);


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## Messquito

用毒毒毒蛇會不會被毒毒死啊！
Poisoning a poisonous snake with poison, would I be poisoned dead by the poison?

今天下雨，我騎車差點摔倒，好在我一把把把把住了。
It was raining today and I almost fell down my bike. Fortunately, I had the handle get handled by me with one grasp.

校長說，校服上別別別的。
The president says do not pin other things on your uniform.

明明明明明白白白喜歡他，但他就是不說。
Ming-ming just knows that Pai-pai likes him, but he just wouldn't say it.
明明白白讓白白付出了很多，於是白白白白喜歡他，並且對他說了「白白」。
Ming-ming got Bai-bai do so much for him for nothing, so Bai-bai's love for him was in vain, and she said Bye-bye to him.

我想過過過過兒過過的生活。
I've thought about trying to live the life that Guo-er has lived.


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## Encolpius

Your is σου in Greek but σου also means choux pastry (very popular even here in Prague), so your choux pastry would be: *σου σου. *


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## bibax

Encolpius said:


> Reduplication within a word is possible in Slavic and maybe more languages I have thought.
> 
> Czech: the boys were pouring (chlapci *lili*... < lít to pour)


In Czech we have a particle *-li* meaning _if_.

Nevím, *lili-li* chlapci vodu nebo víno. = I don't  know if the boys were pouring water or wine.


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## AndrasBP

Hungarian reduplication within the same word: 
(agglutinative languages are good at it, see also Finnish in #35)

ének = song
éneke = his/her song
*énekének *= of his/her song, e.g. "A madár *énekének *jelentése van." = The bird's song has a meaning.


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## bibax

igusarov said:


> ...
> "Косой" is the instrumental case of the feminine adjective "косая" = "crooked".
> "Косой" is the instrumental case of the noun "коса" = "scythe".
> So, all the words are actually different, and it is the inflection that made them look the same.


Similarly in Czech:

*kosá kosa* (nom. sing.) = a skew scythe, Rus. *косая коса*;
*kosou kosou* (instr. sing.) = with/by a skew scythe, Rus. *косой косой*;


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## AndrasBP

Lithuanian:

*Ar klys arklys?* = Will the horse get lost? (*ar *= question particle, *klys *= future tense of the verb "klysti" = "to get lost" or "be wrong", *arklys *= horse)
*Kas kas?* = Who will dig? (*kas *= who?, also, the future tense of "kasti" = to dig)
*arba ta arbata* = or that tea ("arbata" comes from the Polish "herbata")
Jis *siūlo siūlo.* = He offers thread (yarn). (jis = he, *siūlo *= 3rd person form of *siūlyti *(to offer), also, the genitive case (in a partitive sense) of the noun "siūlas" = thread)


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## AndrasBP

Hungarian:

A nő nő. = The woman is growing.


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## merquiades

French:   Si ces six scies-ci scient six ciprès, ici six scies scient six ciprès.


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## AndrasBP

merquiades said:


> French: Si ces six scies-ci scient six ciprès, ici six scies scient six ciprès.



(I've just checked: it's "c*y*près".)


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## Encolpius

merquiades said:


> French:   Si ces six scies-ci scient six ciprès, ici six scies scient six ciprès.



Where are the reduplications? I cannot *see *any.


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## AndrasBP

Well, it's a kind of nonsensical tongue-twister, but you need to be able to read French to hear the reduplications:
/si se si si-si si si sipʁɛ, isi si si si si sipʁɛ/

English translation:
If these six saws saw six cypresses, here six saws saw six cypresses. ('saw' here is the wood-cutting tool)


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## Ghabi

This thread is not about tongue twisters, but _unintentional_ reduplication. What the original poster didn't specify is whether it concerns both

- juxtaposition of the same word, but with different meanings (as in "She's pretty pretty"); and
- juxtaposition of two homophones (as in "When will Will be back?"); 

Or only the former. In any case, this thread is not about the tongue twister, which already has its own thread.


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## Dymn

Another one which happens quite often in Catalan or Spanish is when a noun is omitted between two "_de _+ article". Spanish this time:

_El *porcentaje* es distinto *del del* resto de Cataluña._
"The *percentage *is different *from that in the* rest of Catalonia"

_La* tasa *real podría estar por debajo *de la de la* gripe._
"The real *rate *could be lower *than that of the* flu"


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## Circunflejo

Some in Spanish:

No nada nada (s/he doesn't swim at all).
No traje traje (I didn't bring a suit)
Mi mí es más agudo que el tuyo (my E is more acute than yours).
Tuvo tubo, pero ya no tiene (it had a pipe but it's missing). Tuvo and tubo are homophones.



Dymn said:


> And a tongue twister (easy one):
> - _En _*cap cap cap *_el que _*cap *_en aquest _*cap.*


I knew a variant: En cap cap cap que Déu deu deu.


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## jazyk

In Latin:

Malo malum malum mala mandere mala quam malo malo totum transcurrere mare. 
I prefer to chew a bad apple with my bad jaw than to cross the whole sea with a bad mast.


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## nimak

There are many examples in *Macedonian*.

*Игра игра.* (Igra igra.) = (He/she/it) plays a game. _(verb and noun_)

*Коса коса.* (Kosa kosa.) = A slanted scythe. _(adjective and noun)_
Similar example was mentioned by @bibax for *Czech* language.

The word *коса* (kosa) f. means "_hair_" too.

There are many reduplications with the short forms of the personal and possessive pronouns, similar like in *Greek*, mentioned by @apmoy70 :

*ми ми; ти ти; му му; ѝ ѝ; ни ни; ви ви; им им*

*Брат ми ми кажа.* (Brat mi mi kazha.) = "_My__ brother told me._" lit. "_Brother of-mine told me._"
*Сестра ти ти кажа.* (Sestra ti ti kazha.) = _"Your sister told you." _lit._ "Sister of-yours told you."_

The personal/possessive pronoun *ни* (ni) and the particle *ни* (ni) _"neither", "nor", "none"_.

*Дедо ни, ни ни кажа, ни ни пиша.* (Dedo ni, ni ni kazha, ni ni pisha.) = lit. _"Grandfather of-ours neither told us, neither wrote to us."_

The negation *не* (ne) and the personal pronoun *нè* (nè).

*Не нè праша.* (Ne nè prasha.) = "_(He/she/it) didn't ask us_." lit. "_No us (he/she/it)-asked._"


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## ancalimon

Turkish:
evet: yes
hayır: no
hay hay: yes
oy: vote

English:
(aye is pronounced almosy the same as Turkish hay. More like English "hi")
aye: yes, agree, approve, vote of acceptance
aye aye: yes

Mongolian:
hau: yes

Japanese:
hai: yes


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## Awwal12

Curiously, Russian has something nearly parallel to the English "pretty pretty" - "довольно довольно"  (dovól'no dovól'no), which would mean "pretty gladly" - or, possibly, "pretty glad" when applied as a predicate to some neuter subject.


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## AndrasBP

Awwal12 said:


> Curiously, Russian has something nearly parallel to the English "pretty pretty" - "довольно довольно"


This reminds me of the Hungarian word "csomó" /'ʧomo:/, whose primary meaning is "knot", but in colloquial Hungarian it can also mean "a lot of".
You could say "egy *csomó csomó*" = "a lot of knots".


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