Exact Repetition in Grammar and Discourse

Rita Finkbeiner, Ulrike Freywald, Rita Finkbeiner, Ulrike Freywald

• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9783110590128
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Most scholars define reduplication as a formally restricted grammatical process, neatly distinguishing it from 'mere' repetition as a discoursal option. However, there is a fuzzy grey area between the two processes that has rarely been explored so far. In this timely collection, the phenomenon of exact repetition, understood broadly as the systematic iteration of one and the same linguistic item within relatively close syntactic proximity, is investigated from a number of angles. The volume contains studies from phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, and deals with a broad range of languages, including alleged 'reduplication avoiders'. In bringing together different theoretical perspectives, phenomenological domains, and methodologies, and in linking the fields of syntax and discourse to those of morphology and morphophonology, the volume provides new insights into the structure and meaning of exact repetition phenomena, and, more generally, into their status within a theory of language. The collection will appeal to formally and functionally oriented scholars from all subfields of linguistics, including typology.

Part I:Setting the Scene: Forms and Functions of Repetition

Ulrike Freywald and Rita Finkbeiner

Exact repetition or total reduplication? Exploring their boundaries in discourse and grammar

Ulrike Freywald, Universität Potsdam
Rita Finkbeiner, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

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.

1Introduction

In recent years, processes of iteration in language – understood broadly as two- or many-times occurrences of one and the same linguistic item within some specifiable linguistic domain – have gained increased interest within various areas of linguistics. On the one hand, the process of reduplication has been on the agenda of typological studies (e.g., Gil 2005; Hurch 2005; Ammann and Urdze 2007; Stolz et al. 2011; Schwaiger 2015, 2017) as well as of grammatical studies on particular languages (e.g., Lindström 1999; Goodwin Gómez and van der Voort 2014; Mattes 2014; Finkbeiner 2014, 2015; Freywald 2015; Kallergi 2015a). Reduplication has also gained renewed interest within theoretical linguistics (e.g., Raimy 2000; Inkelas and Zoll 2005; Kobele 2006; Frampton 2009). On the other hand, and largely independently of the former strands of research, the process of repetition has come into focus in studies on conversation analysis and interactional linguistics (e.g., Bamford 2000; Svennevig 2004; Tannen 2007 [1989]; Bazzanella 2011), as well as in studies on language acquisition (Clark and Bernicot 2008; Larsen-Freeman 2012). While reduplication is traditionally assumed to be a grammatical process related to the domains of phonology, morphology and syntax, repetition is often assumed to be a “free” process associated with the domains of rhetoric, discourse, and pragmatics. However, on a closer look, it becomes clear that the demarcation line between reduplication and repetition is rather difficult to draw, in particular when it comes to the linguistic domain of the word.

Thus, a long-standing problem still remains largely unresolved: to distinguish total reduplication, a process within grammar proper, from exact repetition, understood as the – grammatically virtually unrestricted – iteration of words, phrases, clauses, and utterances. Apart from some confusion regarding terminology,1 the distinction between the two processes is far from being self-evident. If we take reduplication and repetition as forming two complementary sections of the same scale it is crucial to be able to determine where both sections meet. However, the boundary between reduplication and repetition appears to be quite fuzzy, presenting us with a number of ambiguous cases. Thus, instead of a clear-cut categorical distinction we rather find a nebulous transition zone (cf. Gil 2005; Maas 2007; Stolz 2007; Stolz et al. 2011; Forza 2016).

Figure 1: The transition zone between reduplication and repetition.

The present volume sees itself as a contribution to the ongoing endeavour to explore this grey area in greater detail and to help refine (and maybe redefine) the notions of reduplication and repetition by addressing open theoretical questions and by providing empirical evidence from a variety of typologically different languages. The fuzziness becomes particularly intricate in languages which do not regularly employ reduplication as a morphological means – whether partial or total – and therefore are classified as “reduplication avoiders”. Reduplicative patterns in these languages often surface only in semantically opaque, archaic forms whose underlying formation processes are neither transparent nor productive anymore (this is the traditional view on North and Central European languages such as English, German, Dutch, French, and the Scandinavian languages, among others, cf. Rubino 2005; Stolz et al. 2011).2 However, even in these reduplication-unfriendly languages there are, in fact, niches of productive total reduplication.3 These phenomena deserve particular attention in several respects: First, they are highly understudied. Detailed analyses of these instances not only complement the descriptions of the respective languages but also contribute to the general understanding of reduplication by possibly adding new types of reduplication to the overall inventory of already known reduplicative processes. Second, addressing reduplication avoiders will fill blank spots on the map showing the areal distribution of reduplication – and in this way will contribute to the still much-debated question of whether reduplication can be counted as a language universal (see Stolz et al. 2011). Third, the marginality of reduplication in reduplication-phobic languages requires a particularly careful distinction both from more central types of word-formation in the same language and from repetition which is freely available in any language. Therefore, there is a special focus on reduplication-avoiding languages in this book.

The difficulties in telling reduplication and repetition apart comprise different linguistic levels and aspects. In order to categorise a process as repetition or reduplication it is necessary to determine its features according to functional and formal criteria. For this, the following questions (based on the list in Gil 2005) seem relevant to us:

In the remainder of this introduction we will outline selected problems concerning these issues and point to relevant borderline cases. Using these criteria does not always lead to clear decisions. Rather, it will become evident that formal and functional criteria do not correspond to each other as clearly as assumed but instead run in crosswise directions. At the same time, the following discussion gives an outlook on the problems and phenomena that will be addressed in detail in the individual contributions. It will be concluded by a brief overview of the papers assembled in this collection.

2Criteria for the distinction between reduplication and repetition

The criteria defined in Gil (2005) have been most influential in subsequent attempts to distinguish between reduplication and repetition. We will discuss these criteria by addressing the questions mentioned above one by one. In doing so, we will point at potentials and limits of Gil’s criteria and will illustrate our considerations with some problematic cases.

2.1Where?
Functional domain of application

For the distinction between reduplication and repetition it is usually deemed decisive to determine to which functional domain many-times occurrences of one and the same linguistic item belong: If a pragmatic function is served, we deal with repetition, if the function is purely grammatical in nature, we deal with reduplication.

Figure 2: Mapping of functional domains: grammatical vs pragmatic function.

Whenever reduplication is used to express grammatical categories this process is doubtlessly part of the grammar proper. This can be observed in the well-known ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Part I: Setting the Scene: Forms and Functions of Repetition
• Part II: Exact Repetition in Grammar
• Part III: Exact Repetition in (Discourse) Pragmatics
• Language Index
• Subject Index