LINGUIST List 10.1368

Fri Sep 17 1999

Qs: Word Formation, Sociopragmatic Data

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  • Harold F. Schiffman, Word Formation
  • agnesding, Sociopragmatic data

    Message 1: Word Formation

     Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 10:08:43 -0400 (EDT)
    From: Harold F. Schiffman <haroldfsccat.sas.upenn.edu>
    Subject: Word Formation


    I have a question about a word-formation process in English that has parallels in other languages, but has not (to my knowledge) been discussed much, or even *named*.

    I'm referring to the process of partial reduplication of syllables, sometimes rhyming, other times partial rhymes or with the pattern CV1C-CV2C, i.e. "zig-zag", "hip-hop", etc. These forms are often used as diminutives ("teeny-tiny", "teeny-weeny", "eensy-beensy"), pejoratively (willy-nilly, shilly-shally, dilly-dally, fancy-shmancy), ironically, dismissively (artsy-craftsy, artsy-fartsy), or perhaps even affectionately. This parallels their use/meaning in other languages to some extent, though reduplication in (say) Indonesian, has other "meanings".

    1. One kind is fairly old, and seems more like reduplication, or partial reduplication. This is the sort like "helter-skelter", "hodge-podge" where there is either little intrinsic (lexical or referential) meaning (what is a helter? a skelter?) or one element has meaning but the other is not so clear (teeny-weeny?). There are also onomatopoeic pairs like tick-tock, ding-dong, pitter-patter, and non-onomatopoeic terms like peg-leg, ticky-tacky, etc. My dictionary says that "shilly-shally" is based on "shall-he" plus reduplicative "shilly"; and that "willy-nilly" comes from "will he" (or won't he?).

    2. Another kind I see as quite productive, and used a lot in brand names or in what look like simplifications of more complicated terms. Thus:

    Zany-brainy, Smarte-cart, dust-buster [ghost-buster, fuzz-buster, based originally on 19th century trust-buster], Mod-Squad, and non-brand names like zoot-suit, motor-voter, queen of mean, snail-mail, schlemiel-appeal, boob-tube, airy-fairy, arts-craftsy [also artsy-fartsy]. Four-on-the-floor, or 4x4 [four by four] for 4-wheel drive vehicles..., ficto-facto, sci-fi, vi-spy (Virus-Spy, a virus detector, based on "I spy" or ?), mall-crawl (cf. "pub crawl"), poop-scoop.

    In the "Queen of Mean" type we have rhyming with a preposition in between; there are also types like ass-gaskets, dust-buster, which have other material.

    The process in English is not "regular" as it is in, e.g. Yiddish, where we get the formula C(etc.)-shm(etc.) as in "fancy-shmancy". (And of course the Yiddish pattern is borrowed into English, but it's not the only way to do this.) The languages of India have similar patterns, e.g. the Dravidian languages have the pattern CV(etc.) ki(etc.) as in Tamil "puli kili" and the meaning is "X and things like it" (puli-kili "tigers and similar animals" kaappi-kiippi "coffee and other beverages" pooyTTu-kiiTTu "going and other activities") The meaning in Dravidian is sometimes pejorative/ironic/sarcastic, but not necessarily. In Dravidian lgs. at least one can even reduplicate verbs (Tamil [pooyTTu-kiiTTu] "going and other activities", "(too much) coming and going" (hustling and bustling around). This is pervasive in S. Asia and there is an English name for it, "Hobson-Jobson" (though Hobson-Jobson was a term to deprecate other peculiarities of S. Asian English).

    There have been some messages lately about how rhyme helps in memory; these terms are more certainly more memorable than non-rhyming types, I'll wager.

    1. My first question is, does anyone know of research on this subject, including perhaps even a *dictionary/lexicon* of various forms? I see this as a productive process in English that gets little documentation. I am constantly saving examples I find used in the media, on TV, etc. but don't appear in any dictionary.

    2. Second question is what do we call this kind of word-formation process in English? Partial reduplication? Rhyming pairs/phrases? Usually the reduplication is only partial, though we do get a few complete reduplications, e.g. "dumb-dumb", "dodo" "din-din" (dinner) Some of this may be "baby-talk" or pseudo-baby talk (wa-wa for 'water') which spills over into diminutives and or affectionate usages, e.g. for nicknames (Baba, Lulu, etc.)

    3. Although some of these appear in dictionaries ("helter-skelter" etc.) many don't, so I am thinking of compiling a lexicon of these, which I may ask people to contribute to via the Web. If I elicit any interest in this, I'll send another message.

    Hal Schiffman

    =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Harold F. Schiffman Academic Director Henry R. Luce Professor of Language Learning Penn Language Center Dept. of South Asia Regional Studies 715-16 Williams Hall 820 Williams Hall, Box 6305 Box 6305 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

    Phone: (215) 898-5825 (215) 898-6039 Fax: (215) 573-2138 Fax (215) 573-2139

    Email: haroldfsccat.sas.upenn plcccat.sas.upenn.edu WWW: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/ http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~plc/

    Message 2: Sociopragmatic data

     Date: 16 Sep 1999 08:58:11 -0000
    From: agnesding <agnesding163.net>
    Subject: Sociopragmatic data


    Hello, I'm a postgraduate from China. I major in sociopragmatics, and now I'm preparing for my thesis.I'm thinking of doing a contrastive study on the realization patterns of speech act 'request' in English between Chinese speakers and English speakers.The subjects will be undergraduates. I'm now having difficulties in getting the data from native English speakers, since I'm now in China. I'm wondering if anybody can help me to get the data. If you can help me,would you please write back and I'll send you my questionnaire.I need about 30 native speakers to fill the questionnaire, with 15 females and 15 males. Thank you so much.

    Agnes Ding

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