Reduplication

Definition

Reduplication is a non-concatenative process which involves copying a portion of the base and reattaching the “copied part” as an affix onto the base (it can be attached as a suffix, prefix, or infix). Reduplication can be either full or partial, and there may be instances of both within a single language.

  • Full reduplication is when the whole base is copied and reattached.
  • Partial reduplication is when only a portion of the base is copied and reattached.

Examples

  • Skwxwú7mesh:
  • According to Dyck (2004), reduplication is a widespread process in the Skwxwú7mesh language and can be found in multiple grammatical processes (p. 171). For example, there are two types of prefixal reduplication in Skwxwú7mesh, being:
    • CVC-reduplication (full)
    • CV-reduplication (partial)
  • Examples of partial and full reduplication in Skwxwú7mesh can be observed in the as follows:
Partial reduplication. It can be observed that only the CV (ʔi-) portion of the syllable is copied and reattached as a prefix (Bird, 2004, p. 172).
Full reduplication. The full CVC syllable is reduplicated and copied and attached as a prefix in the plural form of ‘snowbird’ (Bird, 2004, p. 172)