Reduplication of words in Lithuanian

Abstract

Reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word, or part of it, is repeated. It is found in many languages, though its importance and productivity vary. However, in some languages, reduplication can happen more than once. Triplication is the term for copying three times (i. e. in Lithuanian language rururù, kikikì, lalala). There are two types of reduplication in Lithuanian: root/stem/syllable reduplication (i. e. baubau, bė́bė; bobõ; būbū, caca, ėė, gaga, kaka, kūkū, lala, lili, liūliū), word reduplication (i. e. bim bam, pykšt pakšt, bruzdu brazdu, capu lapu, čyru vyru, šuldu buldu). These words have full and partial reduplication. Full reduplication involves a reduplication of the entire word (i. e. nunù, riri, rururù, kaka). Partial reduplication involves a reduplication of only part of the word, e. g. papákšt (veiksmažodis pakštelėti), babarkšt (barkštelėti), babámst (bambstelėti). Reduplication may be initial (i. e. prefixal), final (i. e. suffixal), or internal (i. e. infixal). Initial reduplications in Lithuanian: le-lèpt; lilingt; ka-karyku; li-lìngu; liuliùčio, dri-dringt, švi-švil̃pt. Final reduplications: klikla-kla; klikle-kle, hm-m, šiū-ū̃. Internal reduplications: ci-li-lingt; ta-la-laku at-gim-giminy, vin-gur-gurklis. Word reduplication is partial and has various differences: strykt strakt; šnýpšt, blykst pablykst; blỹkš pablykš; buldu buldais; dingu daugais and etc. A-not-A question reduplication is an interesting type of reduplication. This idea is further supported by the fact that a partial-copying of A-not-A constructions have phonological priority, in that the copied material is a syllable, a prosodic element, e. g., čia-ne-čia, kadà-ne-kadà, kad-ne-kad, kaip-ne-kaĩp, kame-ne-kamè, kàs-ne-kàs, koks-ne-koks, kokia-ne-kokia.