Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.
AbstractWe survey the predicative functions of reduplication and analyze the relationships between them in terms of semantic affinity and iconicity. Forty-five functions are identified in 108 languages. The most frequent ones have to do with repetition/continuity of events, multiplicity of participants, and intensity. Reduplication can be polysemous. Based on high cross-linguistic frequency of expression by a common reduplicative form and cases of ambiguity, we identify semantic affinities among twelve functions, together comprising a semantic map. We also analyze the functions in terms of five iconicities—iconic relationships between specific aspects of form and meaning. An interesting relationship emerges: for any pair of semantically closely related functions, the iconicities of one are always a superset of the iconicities of the other. On the widely-held assumption that initial uses are high in iconicity, the picture is one of monotonic loss of iconicity as use is extended. As well as showing empirically how the functions relate to each other, we also review three earlier proposals which were largely based on reasoning.
linguistic Typology – de Gruyter
Published: Apr 25, 2018
Read and print from thousands of top scholarly journals.
Already have an account? Log in
Bookmark this article. You can see your Bookmarks on your DeepDyve Library.
To save an article, log in first, or sign up for a DeepDyve account if you don’t already have one.
Copy and paste the desired citation format or use the link below to download a file formatted for EndNote
Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
All DeepDyve websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.