Wanchain
Reduplication

Sometimes we repeat a word twice, eg. bye bye, bling bling, so so, okie dokie, roly poly, etc.  This is called reduplication.  It is done for several reasons; one of which is for emphasis.

 

In Chinese and Japanese, this character 々 is used for the second repeated word.  It is not commonly used nor seen nowadays, and I am not sure how to type it under the Chinese pinyin input method.

 

In my own vocabulary, I tend to use reduplication quite a bit, both in English and Chinese, not really for emphasis purposes, but more so as a baby talk.  ^_^ All my stuffed animals have reduplicated names like Jia Jia, Da Da, etc.  And in speech, I say yes yes, hi hi, etc.

 

Do you use much reduplicated words on a daily basis?  If so, what words and for what occasion?

Oct 31, 2013 9:20 PM
Comments · 3
1

I use them quite often. But I do not know why. Perhaps  because it is short word and could feel sadly being alone :)

October 31, 2013

Reduplication is better for explaining something to someone in an easy way. That's how I use it.

November 3, 2013

Without knowing why?  Hmm ... maybe the word is commonly reduplicated.

November 3, 2013