Reduplication as a productive way of word building in modern English

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Филология и лингвистика
lated as such kind of reduplicative compounds — Шалтай-
Болтай).
Traditionally reduplicative compounds are further subde-
vided into redeuplicative compounds proper, ablaut combi-
nations and rhyme combinations. Reduplicative compounds 
proper is not restricted to the repetition of onomatopoeic 
stems with intesifying effect as it sometimes suggested. On-
omatopoeic repetition exists but not very often (hush-hush in 
the meaning of «secret»). Also, pseudo-morphemes occure 
in this sphere (blah-blah in the meaning of «nonsence») 
but their’s conctituents can’t occure elsewhere. Generally 
speaking, reduplicative compounds proper are words of full 
and exact reduplication of the stem — goody-goody, gee-
gee, tut-tut.
Ablaut combinations are twin forms consisting of one 
basic morpheme (usually the second), sometimes a pseudo-
morpheme which is repeated in the other constituent with 
a different vowel. The «eco» may come both in the 1st part 
and in the second. The typical changes are [ı] — [æ] : 
chit-chat ‘gossip’ (from chat ‘easy familiar talk’), dilly-dally 
‘loiter’, knick-knack ‘small articles of ornament’, riff-raff ‘the 
mob’, shilly-shally ‘hesitate’, zigzag (borrowed from French), 
and [ı] — [o] : ding-dong (said of the sound of a bell), ping-
pong ‘table-tennis’, singsong ‘monotonous voice’, tiptop 
‘first-rate’. The free forms corresponding to the basic mor-
phemes are as a rule expressive words denoting sound or 
movement. To sum up, ablaut combinations are words 
of twin forms with a vowel sound interchange inside them 
shilly-shally, cit-chat, dilly-dally.
Both groups (reduplicative compounds proper and ablaut 
combinations) are based on sound symbolism expressing 
polarity. With words denoting movement these words sym-
bolise to and fro rhythm: criss-cross; the to and fro move-
ment also suggests hesitation: shilly-shally (probably based 
on the question «Shall I?») ; alternating noises: pitter-patter. 
The semantically predominant group are the words meaning 
idle talk: bibble-babble, chit-chat, clitter-clatter, etc.
Rhyme combinations are twin forms consisting of two ele-
ments (most often two pseudo-morphemes) which are joined 
to rhyme: boogie-woogie, flibberty-gibberty ‘frivolous’, 
harum-scarum ‘disorganised’, helter-skelter ‘in disordered 
haste’, hoity-toity ‘snobbish’, humdrum‘bore’, hurry-scurry 
‘great hurry’, hurdy-gurdy ‘a small organ’, lovey-dovey ‘dar-
ling’, mumbo-jumbo ‘deliberate mystification, fetish’. Many 
of these terms date back as far as the 16th century — take, 
for example, razzle-dazzle, hanky-panky, humdrum and the 
heebie-jeebies. Finally, they are words of usually consonant 
interchange.
The choice of the basic sound cluster in some way or other 
is often not arbitrary but motivated, for instance, lovey-dovey 
is motivated in both parts, as well as willy-nilly. Hurry-scurry 
and a few other combinations are motivated in the first part, 
while the second is probably a blend if we take into consider-
ation that in helter-skelter the second element is from obso-
lete skelt ‘hasten’.
About 40 % of these rhyme combinations (a much higher 
percentage than with the ablaut combinations) are not mo-
tivated: namby-pamby,razzle-dazzle. A few are borrowed: 
pow-wow ‘a noisy assembly’ (an Algonquin word), mumbo-
jumbo (from West African), but the type is purely English, 
and mostly modern.
Reduplication is usually resricted by the sphere of usage. 
The motivation of reduplicative compounds is mostly based 
on sound-symbolism, which means that their phonetic form 
carries out their function. There exists 3 functions:
1) Colloquial speech elements: razzle-dazzle, easy-peasy 
(actually almost all of them are colloquial)
2) Slang words: okey-dokey (sure, alright), yammy-
mommy (a very attractive woman who is a mother)
3) Nursery words: Humpty-Dumpty, quack-quack, 
helter-skelter
The pattern is emotionally charged and chiefly colloquial, 
jocular, often sentimental in a babyish sort of way. The ex-
pressive character is mainly due to the effect of rhythm, rhyme 
and sound suggestiveness. It is intensified by endearing suf-
fixes -y, -sie and the jocular -ty, -dy. Semantically predom-
inant in this group are words denoting disorder, trickery, 
teasing names for persons, and lastly some playful nursery 
words. Baby-talk words are highly connotative because of 
their background. Some of the words from the sphere of col-
loquial speech came into neutral: ping-pong (name of a pop-
ular game) ; or gained new meaning — tip-top (was used as 
sound imitation, but now is used in the meaning of «perfect», 
«well-done», «ok»).
From the functional point of view reduplicative com-
pounds may be devided into reduplicative adjectives (wishy-
washy, itsy-bitsy, higgledy-piggledy) and reduplicative 
nouns (argle-bargle, tick-tock, pell-mell). Besides, some 
of the reduplicative compounds, which became stable in the 
language are also borrowings: ping-pong (Chinese), zigzag 
(French). Also, there are some translation loans: «nolens-
volens» from Latin turned into «willy-nilly». Reduplication 
may also occur as a mean of blending: The jocular and iron-
ical name Lib-Labs (Liberal Labour — a particular group) 
illustrates clipping, composition and ellipsis and imitation of 
reduplication all in one word.
The sphere of usage of reduplication is quite wide as it 
touches upon many topics: words denoting animals (hot-
dog — a snail) and plants (ylang-ylang) ; imitation of sounds 
made by animals (tweet-tweet, bow-wow) ; dances and types 
of music (go-go, hip-hop) ; different things (knick-knack — 
a trinket) and onomatopoeic words, denoting usage of these 
things (tick-tock) ; names of games (pall-mall, ping-pong) ; 
and even words of crime and government sphere (cop-shop 
— a police office, wacky-tabaccy — marijuana) [3].
To sum up, I would like to state that reduplication is a 
productive way of wordbuilding in the modern English lan-
guage. It has several classifications and performs itself as a 

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