reduplicativecompounding

Reduplicative forms, or reduplications, are linguistic constructions in which a base segment—often a whole word or a syllable—is repeated to form a new word or to modify its meaning. Reduplication is found across many languages and functions as a productive morphological device as well as a stylistic device in speech.

There are several broad types. Full reduplication copies the entire base, as in bye-bye, or goody-goody, where repetition intensifies or alters meaning. Partial reduplication repeats only part of the base, sometimes with phonetic variation, as in zig-zag or teeny-weeny. Some languages use exact repetition to indicate plurality or iteration, while others employ rhyming or altered forms to convey emphasis, frequency, or aspect.

In linguistic typology, reduplication often serves grammatical purposes. It can mark iterative or habitual aspect, repetition of an action, or verbal mood. In some languages, reduplication is productive for forming plurals or diminutives; in others, it creates fixed lexical items or reduplicated adjectives that carry specialized meanings.

Commonly cited examples come from English, where reduplication appears in colloquial or playful forms such as bye-bye, hocus-pocus, or itsy-bitsy. In Southeast Asian languages like Indonesian and Malay, reduplication is a widespread morphophonemic process, forming plurals (orang-orang, buku-buku) or emphasizing plurality and frequency, as well as generating new words and idiomatic expressions.

Reduplications intersect phonology, morphology, and semantics, illustrating how repetition can encode nuance, emphasis, repetition of actions, or grammatical categories.