Exact repetition or total reduplication? Exploring their boundaries in discourse and grammar
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Ulrike Freywald
Abstract
In this chapter, we review central criteria that are commonly used to differentiate between ‘(total) reduplication’, understood as a grammatical operation that applies within word boundaries, and ‘(exact) repetition’, which is a pragmatic or discourse-related process that takes place above the word level. The main focus of this article is on the grey area where the two domains meet or even overlap. In anticipation of the remainder of the book we discuss examples from a variety of languages which challenge a neat division into word-bound reduplication on the one hand and discourse-bound repetition on the other. This survey of potentially problematic cases leads to the conclusion that the demarcation line between reduplication and repetition is rather blurred: Neither is reduplication confined to the domain of the word nor is repetition completely excluded from it. Reduplication also occurs at the discourse level, conveying discourse-grammatical information such as topic marking. Conversely, purely pragmatically motivated processes of repetition can also be found within words, for example with derivational affixes and in ideophones. This introductory chapter is concluded by an overview of the articles assembled in this book.
Abstract
In this chapter, we review central criteria that are commonly used to differentiate between ‘(total) reduplication’, understood as a grammatical operation that applies within word boundaries, and ‘(exact) repetition’, which is a pragmatic or discourse-related process that takes place above the word level. The main focus of this article is on the grey area where the two domains meet or even overlap. In anticipation of the remainder of the book we discuss examples from a variety of languages which challenge a neat division into word-bound reduplication on the one hand and discourse-bound repetition on the other. This survey of potentially problematic cases leads to the conclusion that the demarcation line between reduplication and repetition is rather blurred: Neither is reduplication confined to the domain of the word nor is repetition completely excluded from it. Reduplication also occurs at the discourse level, conveying discourse-grammatical information such as topic marking. Conversely, purely pragmatically motivated processes of repetition can also be found within words, for example with derivational affixes and in ideophones. This introductory chapter is concluded by an overview of the articles assembled in this book.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Contributors VII
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Part I: Setting the Scene: Forms and Functions of Repetition
- Exact repetition or total reduplication? Exploring their boundaries in discourse and grammar 3
- Function vs form – On ways of telling repetition and reduplication apart 29
- The derivational nature of reduplication and its relation to boundary phenomena 67
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Part II: Exact Repetition in Grammar
- Reduplication and repetition in Russian Sign Language 91
- A brief overview of total reduplication in Modern Japanese 110
- Affixation or compounding? Reduplication in Standard Chinese 127
- Fixer-uppers. Reduplication in the derivation of phrasal verbs 158
- Turkish doubled verbs as doubled TPs 182
- Cognate objects in language variation and change 200
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Part III: Exact Repetition in (Discourse) Pragmatics
- The lexical clone: Pragmatics, prototypes, productivity 233
- Sentence-peripheral Coordinative Reduplication in German: A pragmatic view 265
- Focus on repetition: On the role of focus and repetition in echo questions 295
- Repetition versus implicatures and presuppositions 329
- Exact Repetition in Tojol-ab’al Maya 350
- An analysis of two forms of verbal mimicry in troubles talk conversations between strangers and friends 366
- Language Index 389
- Subject Index 391
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Contributors VII
-
Part I: Setting the Scene: Forms and Functions of Repetition
- Exact repetition or total reduplication? Exploring their boundaries in discourse and grammar 3
- Function vs form – On ways of telling repetition and reduplication apart 29
- The derivational nature of reduplication and its relation to boundary phenomena 67
-
Part II: Exact Repetition in Grammar
- Reduplication and repetition in Russian Sign Language 91
- A brief overview of total reduplication in Modern Japanese 110
- Affixation or compounding? Reduplication in Standard Chinese 127
- Fixer-uppers. Reduplication in the derivation of phrasal verbs 158
- Turkish doubled verbs as doubled TPs 182
- Cognate objects in language variation and change 200
-
Part III: Exact Repetition in (Discourse) Pragmatics
- The lexical clone: Pragmatics, prototypes, productivity 233
- Sentence-peripheral Coordinative Reduplication in German: A pragmatic view 265
- Focus on repetition: On the role of focus and repetition in echo questions 295
- Repetition versus implicatures and presuppositions 329
- Exact Repetition in Tojol-ab’al Maya 350
- An analysis of two forms of verbal mimicry in troubles talk conversations between strangers and friends 366
- Language Index 389
- Subject Index 391
