ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY

5.4 Reduplication

 

Reduplication is a process of forming new words by repeating the entire free morpheme (total reduplication) or a part of it (partial reduplication). It is not a productive means of forming new words in the English language, but it is common in other languages like Turkish. A few examples of reduplication in English are win-win, lose-lose, blah-blah, bye-bye, and goody-goody. The following examples illustrate partial reduplication: okey-dokey, zig-zag, chick-flick, roly-poly, walkie-talkie, knick-knack, and others. These combinations are used informally.