Page 1 of 11

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 03

April 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 322

Reduplication in Punjabi: A Morpho-Semantic Phenomenon

1Mehwish Noor ; 2Dr. Riaz Ahmed Mangrio; 3Fakharh Muhabat; 4Mubashir Iqbal

1-3-4 Scholar of MPhil English Linguistics

Department of English, University of Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan

2Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Gujrat, Punjab,

Pakistan.

riaz.mangrio@uog.edu.pk; noorlinguist@gmail.com;

biyakhan38@yahoo.com ; mubashir.i@uog.edu.pk

1.0: INTRODUCTION

Punjabi is an agglutinative (Sharma & Aarti,

2011) Indo- Aryan language, largely spoken

in South Asian area, and is almost on 13th

number of the world ranking. It is a

prominent language by owing to a large

number of its native speakers (Humayoun &

Ranta, 2010) but is less researched language

in the linguistic circle of Pakistan.

Punjabi has a rich evidence of this

morpho-semantic phenomenon.

Reduplication is present in spoken as well as

written form. It is a productive word

formation process of many languages of the

world. It denotes the morphological process

through which new words are formed by a

total or partial replication of base words or

parts of base words (Booij, 2007).

Reduplication is a morphological process

which is subject to special semantic

operations (Hurch et al, 2008). Abbi (1985)

is of the view that modernization has

affected the reduplication patterns of

Punjabi language along with other

South Asian languages and it is now

restricted to only spoken language.

Reduplication, of various types,

occurs in Punjabi. It ranges from total/full

Reduplication, such as; gəli gəli, to different

types of partial reduplication for instance,

əver səver, tʊ ̈̃ tã, tʃʊ

~ tʃɑ̈̃

(vowel based

morpheme alternation), hœɽ sœɽ (consonant

based morpheme alternation), sətʃ.i mʊtʃ.tʃi

(Rhyme with suffix) and, ʃɑ̈̃

ʃɑ̈̃

(echoic

expressions) etc. In fact, Punjabi is also

included in those languages where repetition

of certain mono syllabic morphemes

originate some basic lexical items, such as,

bɑbɑ (father), tʃɑtʃɑ (uncle), nɑnɑ (maternal

grandfather), d̪ɑd̪ɑ (paternal grandfather),

kɑkɑ (baby boy), and mama (uncle). It is

interesting to note that these lexical items

are based on mainly kinship terms.

The study fills the research gap

found in previous studies with special

reference to Punjabi. The study classifies

reduplicated items into different categories

and discusses different semantic functions.

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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

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e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 03

April 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 323

It also highlights different facts about the

reduplicated items in Punjabi, for instance,

reduplication of non-sense/empty words and

the position of reduplicants. The study also

challenges Abbi’s claim regarding the lack

of reduplication of

prepositions/postpositions in any language.

The paper presents various examples to

support the researcher’s observation, in this

regard, and also presents instance in contrast

to Abbi’s report where non-reduplicated

item overlaps the meaning of reduplicated

item. The subsequent sections comprise the

discussion on the aforementioned topics.

2.0: DISCUSSION ON TOTAL AND

PARTIAL REDUPLICATION

Reduplication is very frequent in Punjabi

language and it occurs in different ways.

The basic types are total and partial

reduplication that are being discussed as

under.

2.1: Total/ Full Reduplication

A complete repetition of the morphological

base refers to total/ full reduplication

(Haspelmath 2002: 274). It functions, in

Punjabi, as the intensification of the notion

expressed as well as for the sense of

plurality and distribution.

1a: zɛhr od̪e aŋ aŋ witʃ

p

h

el gəja. (Distribution, Plurality,

Emphasis)

Poison his tissue tissue (N sg) in

spread went.

Poison spread throughout his body.

1b: hɔle hɔle (adv) mee~

vərsa. (Emphasis)

Slowly slowly rain

rained.

It rained slowly.

1c: o tʃori tʃori(N sg) nɛk.kəl

gəja. (Emphasis)

He theaft theaft (N sg) get out

went.

He went out secretly.

1d: t̪

h

oɽe t̪

h

oɽe (adj pl) hə

~

dʒʊ

od̪i ək

h ja~ vitʃ sən (Emphasis)

Little little tears

her eyes in were.

There were some tears in her eyes.

1e: g

h

əɽi g

h

əɽi (N sg) rəb nʊ

~

jad̪ kərid̪a. (Distribution, Plurality,

Emphasis) Moment moment

God to remember should.

One should remember God at every

moment/ all the time.

The above examples express

total/full reduplication of nouns, adverb and

adjective which perform different semantic

functions. In 1a, the noun aŋ is reduplicated

and this morpho-semantic construction

stands for a distributed meaning. It not only

shows the distribution but also the way the

entire body becomes poisonous. The

meanings are extended by showing the

intensity of the action that has been done

along with the plurality of the term aŋ (each

and every). Overall, the expression exhibits

that not one, two but many, rather all the

Page 3 of 11

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

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e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 03

April 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 324

tissues of the body are affected by the

poison.

The example (1b) shows that the

repetition of the adverb hɔle puts the

emphasis on the manner in which the action

is performed. The contextual connotations

that are associated with the rain in Punjab

region make the expression more

meaningful. So to say, the way it rained is

very much meaningful to the speech

community of an agricultural based region.

That is why the reduplicant is used for the

expression of emphasis. The next example

reveals an interesting semantic function of

the reduplication of a noun. In (1c), the

noun tʃori ‘theaft’ is reduplicated, it

functions as an adverb. The noun tʃori

becomes an adverb of the verb ‘went out’.

The semantic shows the emphasis on the

way he went out. (1d) presents

reduplication of a plural adjective t̪

h

oɽe

which intensifies the meaning of the

adjective as well as highlights the noun

hə

~

dʒʊ to which it modifies. The intensity

and emphasis might be loosening in case of

the use of its non-reduplicated base. The

oblique form of singular noun, in 1e, is

functioning as adverbial phrase. The

repetition of the noun g

h

əɽi exhibits three

meanings simultaneously; distribution,

plurality and emphasis. g

h

əɽi gh

əɽi extends

the meaning of base to a sense of plurality

out of the singular reduplicated word. The

meaning overlaps the base into a sense of

completion means all/each and every. The

functions of both (1a) and (1e) are quite

similar; both reduplicated items are nouns

and exhibiting the semantics of plurality,

distribution and emphasis. Furthermore, one

noun is in oblique form whereas the other is

in nominative form. Both are proving

additional meaning to their respective verbs.

Partial reduplication is not

commonly found in all languages. Kluge

(2014), in Papua, finds partial reduplication,

in Malay language, less frequent as

compared to total reduplication but it is very

common in Punjabi.

2.2: Partial Reduplication

Partial reduplication comprises the repetition

of only a part of the morpho-semantic

structure resulting in a modification in the

meaning (Moravcsik 1978: 304, cited in

Kluge, 2014). It is further sub-categorized

in three groups; alternation of vowel based

morphemes, alternation of onset based

morphemes and rhyming words. Punjabi

exhibits reduplication in all the said

subcategories. Such reduplicants,

sometimes, execute different semantics from

their base forms other than distribution,

iteration and emphasis.

2.2.1: Alternation of Vowel based

Morphemes

In this type of partial reduplication, vowel

based morphemes are altered in the

reduplicants to form new words.

2a: kʊ ɽja ̃ na:l tʃæɽ tʃa:ɽ na

kəro

Girls with tease.RED

not do.

Do not harass the girls.