Reduplication in English

Reduplication has been recognized in many languages of the world. There are two main types of reduplication as viewed from word-for-mation: complete (or total) reduplication, where all of the stem is repeated like "quack-quack" and incomplete (or partial) reduplication, where only a part of the stem is repeated like "hee-haw", "bow-wow". The seven functions of reduplication in Motu, one of the Austronesian languages in Melanesia are reported, that is, plurality, diminution, intensification, formation of colour adjective, formation of nouns from verbs, continuation, and formation of intransitive verbs form transitive verbs. But in English morphology, reduplication has been neglected by many linguists, since it does not play an important part in English grammar. The purpose of this study is to show the main function of reduplication in English and the relation between parts of speech and word-formations in reduplication. In English, reduplicated compounds denoting natural and animal sounds are very frequent and productive. From OALD and other linguistic articles, reduplicated compounds are collected and classified. The most abundant data for a word-class can be found for interjections: Interjection > Noun > Adjective. At the moment we cannot say what is the most frequent category, but from the above examples, the modification of a vowel is more numerous than the modification of a consonant: Repetition of a Word > Modification of a Vowel > Modification of a Consonant. The main function of English reduplication is intensification, though it is not lexicalized. Intensification is found with adjectives and adverbs. The distributive and durative functions are excluded here, since RED combined with "and", "by", "to" lacks linguistic adequacy. The names of animals and plants have no grammatical function, though it is almost certain that they refer to aspects of the culture. The problem of major interest is the interplay of structural and non-structural factors (See p.7).