Reduplication, the doubling or
partial doubling of syllables and words, is very frequent in Hindi-Urdu.
It may apply to full words of any kind: nouns, adjectives, adverbs,
verbs (but not auxiliary verbs), even pronouns:
0. Vy:a-Vy:a
s:am:an: l:an:a c:aehO ?
(from Chapter Twenty-four of g:aðdan:. See context.)
A. Onomatopoeic:
1. v:h . . . Ct:
p:r c:`kr dn:adn: b:ndÜq
c:l:an:ð l:g:ð T:ð.
(from kÙs:m:
j:òn:'s monolog edl: kað dhl:a
dðn:ð v:al:ð edn:. See context.)
(from Chapter Twenty-eight of g:aðdan:. See context.)
3. p:ðX m:ðø ddü
hò. CXp:Xa rhi hò. y:haú kaðI daI
hò ?
(from Chapter Twenty-seven of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Twenty of g:aðdan:. See context.)
5. m:òøn:ð t:að
Ap:n:ð Aadm:i s:ð s:af-s:af kh edy:a
T:a, Ag:r t:Øm: ED:r-uD:r l:p:kñ, t:að
m:ðri B:i j:að EcCa haðg:i v:h k-úg:i.
(from Chapter Five of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Eight of g:aðdan:. See context.)
7. D:en:y:a ka G:m:NR t:að us:kñ
s:úB:al: s:ð b:ahr hað hað j:at:a hò.
(from Chapter Eight of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Twenty-seven of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Twenty-seven of g:aðdan:. See context.)
10. p:an:i-v:an:i
dðn:a hò.
(from Chapter Seven of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Thirty-five of g:aðdan:. See context.)
12. s:b: XÜX-XaXkr
b:rab:r hað g:y:a.
(from dað
b:òl:aðø ki khan:i by )ðm:c:nd.)
13. Aam:i ý khiø eks:i kað
Aan:ð-v:an:ð-j:an:ð n:hiø dð rhi T:i.
(from monologue edl:
kað dhl:a dðn:ð v:al:ð edn: by
kÙs:Øm: j:òn:. See context.)
14. Aal:s:i-v:al:s:i
kÙC n:hiø hò.
(from Chapter Four of g:aðdan:. See context.)
15. kl:s:a l:ð j:aAað,
p:an:i B:rkr rK: dað, haT:-m:Øúh
D:aðy:ðø, kÙC
rs:-p:an:i ep:l:a dað. . . .
(from Chapter Three of g:aðdan:. See context.)
16. m:rd-m:rd s:b: Ok
haðt:ð hòø.
(from Chapter Twenty-three of g:aðdan:. See context.)
Compare the totalizing meaning of the complete
reduplication G:Üm:-G:Üm: 'combing' in (18) with the
approximating meaning of the partial reduplication of G:Üm:-G:am:
'wandering' in (19):
(from Chapter Eight of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Thirty of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from ec:e_y:a
Aaòr c:il: by s:Ø\:m:
b:ðdi. See context.)
21. j:òs:ð-j:òs:ð m:ØXYa G:Øm:at:ð T:ð
t:ðs:ð-t:òs:ð v:h PaXk
z:m:in: m:ðø G:Øs:t:a j:at:a T:a.
(Sentence 6 from Section 21 of Part Four of
c:ndÒkant:a.)
(from Chapter Two of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter N of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Twenty-four of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(suggested by m:ðhr fa-qi from a poem by ej:g:r m:Øradab:adi. See context in
Urdu.)
(from Chapter Three of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Six of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Twenty of g:aðdan:. See context.)
To conversion exercise on reduplication.
To translation exercise on reduplication.
To index of grammatical notes.
To index of m:lhar.
Drafted and posted 25 Oct - 3 Nov 2002. Linking to texts begun 13 Nov
2002. Augmented 14 Mar 2003.
'What (various) things should I bring?'
From the general sense of plurality or
repetition inherent in reduplication emerge a number of specific meanings.
Discussion and examples of the most important of them follow:
'He...had climbed onto his roof and begun
firing his gun: boom, boom, boom.'
2. oX Aaòr p:tT:r kñ
XØk_ð c:Xak-c:Xak XÜXkr uCl:
rhð T:ð .
'Pieces of stone and brick breaking with a
chataak-chataak sound went flying.'
B. Intensive or emotive uses:
'She's having labor pains. She's tossing
and turning. Is there a midwife here?'
4. D:en:y:a Aaòr t:in:aðø
l:_eky:aú UK: kñ g:XYð el:y:ð g:il:i
s:ae_y:aðø s:ð l:T:p:T:, kic:_ m:ðø s:n:i hØI Aay:iø,
Aaòr g:XYð p:Xkkr dm: m:arn:ð
l:g:iø . . .
'Dhaniya and all three girls came lugging
bundles of cane, dripping in their wet saris, coated with mud, threw down
the bundles and started panting for breath...'
C. Reduplication may also indicate extreme degree:
'So I told my man straight out, "If you
starting fooling around here and there, then I'll also do whatever I feel
like doing."'
6. us:ð Oðs:a j:an: p:_a ek us:ki
kal:i-kal:i s:j:iv: AaúK:aðø
m:ðø Aaús:Ü B:rð hØO hòø .
. .
'It seemed to him that there were tears
welling up in her lively deep black eyes . . . '
D. Reduplication of non-finite verb forms may express repetition of action
in itself (7) or continuous action that leads to a new state (8), (9):
'Dhaniya's pride began exceeding her power to
keep it in check.'
8. eS:S:Ø rað-raðkr g:l:a Pa_ð l:ðt:a T:a,
Vy:aðøek Up:r ka dÜD: us:ð
p:c:t:a n: T:a.
'The baby would be on the verge of crying its
throat to shreds because it could not digest the extra milk (that was not
its mother's).'
9. b:al:k raðt:ð-raðt:ð b:ðdm: hað j:at:a.
'The child would cry itself breathless.'
For more on the use of a reduplicated participle to express repeated
or continuous activity see notes on V-t:ð V-t:ð.
For discussion of the reduplication of finite verb forms, see notes on k-ú
t:að k-ú.
D. Echoics. Like other South Asian languages Hindi-Urdu has a
productive (ie, generally applicable) way to form "echoics": In the
commonest pattern when reduplicated as an echoic the initial consonant of
the first syllable of the word to be echoed is replaced by v: If the word begins with a vowel the
v: is simply prefixed to the echo (13).
Sometimes b: is used instead
of the v: (11). Another common pattern is
the substitution of a high vowel ( U,
I ) with an Aa in the echo (12).
The meaning is usually 'X and the like' or 'X
and things associated with X':
'Water and things have to be served.'
11. by:ah B:i eb:n:a Q:rc:-b:rc: kñ hað j:ay:g:a; Aaòr K:ðt: B:i b:c: j:ay:úg:ð.
'"There'll be a wedding with no expense of any
kind and you'll be able to save the fields, too."'
Echoics can be formed from just about any kind of word, even infinitives
(13) and participles (12):
'Smashing and crashing everything collapsed in
a heap.'
'The army wasn't letting anyone come or go or
anything.'
Echoics are sometimes used disparagingly or dismissively:
'"Lazy"? No way is he lazy!'
In the following exchange between husband and wife note the difference in
tone between the semantic reduplication
rs:-p:an:i and
the echoic rs:-v:s: :
haðri
b:aðl:a -- rs:-v:s: ka kam: n:hiø hò, kaòn: kaðI p:ahØn:ð hòø
!
'"Fill the pitcher. Put out some water.
Wash up a bit. Serve some sugar-cane juice and things."
'Hori said, "There's no need for sugar-cane
juice and all that. Who is he? Some sort of guest?"'
E. Totalizing. One of the characteristic uses of full (as opposed to
partial or rhyming) reduplication is to indicate that an action applies
fully to every single member of a class:
'All men are the same (each and every one of
them).'
17. PÝl: eK:l:ð hòø
g:Øl:S:n:-g:Øl:S:n:
'Flowers have bloomed in every garden...'
[See example (24) below.]
18. v:h S:hr kñ Ok b:_ð m:haj:n:
kñ Oj:ðøX T:ð. un:kñ n:ic:ð kI Aadm:i
Aaòr T:ð, j:að
Aas:-p:as: kñ dðhat:aðø
m:ðø G:Üm:-G:Üm:kr
l:ðn:-dðn: krt:ð T:ð.
'He was the agent of a big money-lender from
the city. Under him there were a number of others who combed the
nearby villages making loans and collecting debts.'
19. Ok edn: v:ð s:ðm:ari p:hØúc:
g:y:ð Aaòr G:Üm:t:ð-G:am:t:ð b:ðl:ari j:a en:kl:ð.
'One day they arrived in Semaari and while
wandering here and there came out in Belaari.'
It should be noted that the totalizing sense
of reduplication can overlap with the intensive sense. Thus, the
phrase s:Øb:h-s:Øb:h in (20) can mean either 'every
morning' or 'first thing in the morning':
20. s:Øb:h-s:Øb:h kam: p:r en:kl: j:at:i hò Aaòr dðr
rat: g:y:ð G:r l:aòXt:i hò&&&
'Every morning (or 'first thing in the
morning') she goes out to work and comes back home late at night...'
F. Mapping. In addition to the intensification and approximation,
there is a third general function of reduplication: Repetition of a
manner adverb or a numeral may be co-ordinated with a second reduplication
(sometimes implicit) to express a correlation of degree (21), (22) or the
distribution of some set x among the members of set y (23),
(24):
'The more they turned the handle, the further
the gate sank into the ground.'
(In contemporary Hindi-Urdu v:òs:ð-v:òs:ð is more likely than t:òs:ð-t:òs:ð.)
22. v:h Aag:ð-Aag:ð kaðYi ki Aaðr c:l:ð,
haðri p:iCð-p:iCð c:l:a.
'As he went ahead toward the bungalow, Hori
came along behind.'
23. Ok-Ok b:aCa
s:aò-s:aò ka haðg:a.
'Each calf will fetch a hundred rupees.'
24. Ap:n:a-Ap:n:a D:rm:
Ap:n:ð-Ap:n:ð s:aT: hò.
'To each his own duty.'
25. PÝl: eK:l:ð hòø
g:Øl:S:n:-g:Øl:S:n:
l:ðekn: Ap:n:a-Ap:n:a
dam:n:
'Flowers have bloomed in every garden but
each has been spoken for.'
G. Semantic reduplication. In addition to phonological reduplication
it is necessary to recognize semantic reduplication. Examples of
semantic reduplication are paired words like S:adi-by:ah 'wedding
and marriage' and s:aðc:-ev:c:ar 'thinking and considering' whose members
have no detectable formal resemblance but which have meanings similar to
echoics and reduplicates like S:adi-v:adi and s:aðc:-s:ac: that
do:
26. S:adi-by:ah
m:ðø p:il:i s:a_i p:hn:i j:at:i hò . . .
'You wear a yellow sari to weddings and
marriages...'
27. Ok b:_ð qb:il:ð ka s:rdar hò.
us:ð Paús:i dðt:ð hØO s:rkar B:i
s:aðc:-ev:c:ar krðg:i.
'He's the chief of a large tribe. Even
the Government would think long and hard before hanging him.'
It seems that most instances of semantic reduplication involve
approximation (rather than intensification or distribution). In some
instances the members are mutually complementary, as in the pair
K:a-p:i in
(28):
28. kÙC Aaram: kr l:að,
kÙC K:a-p:i
l:að.
'Take some rest. Have something to eat
and drink.'
For more on reduplication in Hindi-Urdu and
other South Asian languages see publications by Anvita Abbi.