do not repeat
-
Gerrit Kentner
Abstract
This chapter offers a synopsis of repetitive and reduplicative constructions in German, a set of diverse morphophonological types mostly found in substandard registers of the language. A phonological examination of these structures suggests that German strictly prohibits exact adjacent repetition of phonological material within lexical representations. I suggest this generalisation to be a grammatical requirement in the lexicon that holds across all levels of the phonological hierarchy, with only a few well-defined exceptions (abbreviations, loans, onomatopoeias, and ideophones). Reduplicative constructions are situated between the poles of marginal, sub-standard language use, apparent deviance from the concatenative ideal that otherwise pervades German morphology, and strict adherence to the lexical-phonological requirement regarding identity avoidance. In this respect, they are, as I argue, characteristic instances of extravagant morphology.
Abstract
This chapter offers a synopsis of repetitive and reduplicative constructions in German, a set of diverse morphophonological types mostly found in substandard registers of the language. A phonological examination of these structures suggests that German strictly prohibits exact adjacent repetition of phonological material within lexical representations. I suggest this generalisation to be a grammatical requirement in the lexicon that holds across all levels of the phonological hierarchy, with only a few well-defined exceptions (abbreviations, loans, onomatopoeias, and ideophones). Reduplicative constructions are situated between the poles of marginal, sub-standard language use, apparent deviance from the concatenative ideal that otherwise pervades German morphology, and strict adherence to the lexical-phonological requirement regarding identity avoidance. In this respect, they are, as I argue, characteristic instances of extravagant morphology.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Extravagance in morphology 1
- What’s extravagant about be-sandal-ed feet ? 19
- Extravagance, productivity and the development of - ingly adverbs 51
- Diggers-out, leaf clearer-uppers and stayer-onner-for-nowers 73
- The extravagant dutch suffix -ke and its meandering through the interfaces 101
- Linguistic extravagance in compounds and idioms – an analysis of morphological marking 131
- Extravagant expressions denoting quite normal entities 155
- do not repeat 181
- They’re proing it up hardcore 207
- Wild words 233
- Index 255
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Extravagance in morphology 1
- What’s extravagant about be-sandal-ed feet ? 19
- Extravagance, productivity and the development of - ingly adverbs 51
- Diggers-out, leaf clearer-uppers and stayer-onner-for-nowers 73
- The extravagant dutch suffix -ke and its meandering through the interfaces 101
- Linguistic extravagance in compounds and idioms – an analysis of morphological marking 131
- Extravagant expressions denoting quite normal entities 155
- do not repeat 181
- They’re proing it up hardcore 207
- Wild words 233
- Index 255
