Reduplication in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese
「國語及台語重疊字之使用現象」
黃韻蓉
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. The reduplication of nouns in Mandarin Chinese
3. The reduplication of adjectives in Mandarin Chinese
3.1. The four patterns
3.2. The reduplication in the interrogative sentence
3.3. The constraints
4. The reduplication of classifiers, quantifiers, measure words inMandarin Chinese
5. The reduplication of verbs and its meaning in Mandarin Chinese
5.1. The data
5.2. The syntactic constraints
5.3. The meaning
6. Reduplications in Taiwanese
6.1. The patterns
6.2. The contrast between Taiwanese and Mandarin Chinese
7. Final remark
Reference
1. Introduction
If we take a look at Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese, it is not hard to find that there exhibits the use of reduplication in both languages. Reduplication is a process of forming new words by doubling an entire free morpheme (total reduplication) or part of it (partial reduplication). Morphologically, reduplication is one of the word-building processes, and the reduplicated morphemes are different from the original morpheme in semantics and syntax sometimes. Mandarin Chinese makes use of reduplication very sporadically, and so does Taiwanese. In contemporary Mandarin Chinese, nouns, adjectives, verbs, or other content words have certain reduplication forms. In both Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese, people usually reduplicate the same character to express more profound lexical meaning or semantic meaning. The following discussions are the phenomena of reduplication in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese.
2. The Reduplication of Nouns in Mandarin Chinese
Nouns in Mandarin Chinese generally exhibit the reduplication form indicating ‘one by one’ or ‘the majority’ in semantic meaning as the following data, adopted from黃宣範 (1988) illustrate:
人人 ren ren ‘every person’
天天 tian tian ‘every day’
家家 jia jia ‘every household’
官官(相護) guan guan ‘the government officials’
男男女女 nan nan nu nu ‘the men and the women’
詹伯慧 (1991) observes that the appellation or the call of family members also uses the reduplication as the following data illustrate:
媽媽 ma ma ‘mother’
妹妹 mei mei ‘sister’
叔叔 shu shu ‘uncle’
黃宣範(1983) further indicates that the reduplication of the call of family members cannot be applied to the disyllabic call of family members, including 祖父 ‘grandfather’, 堂弟 ‘cousin’, 女婿 ‘son-in-law’, 姪女 ‘niece’,etc. In other words, only monosyllabic call of family members can be reduplicated.
Mandarin Chinese also can use the reduplication of nouns to form adverbs or adjectives as the following data, adopted from黃宣範 (1988) illustrate:
處處 chu chu ‘everywhere’
時時 shi shi ‘always’
條條(大路) tiao tiao ‘every road’
朵朵(花) duo duo ‘quantifier for a flower’
3. The Reduplication of Adjectives in Mandarin Chinese
3.1. The four patterns
According to 盧福波 (1996) and詹伯慧 (1991), the reduplication of adjectives in Mandarin Chinese can be classified into the following four patterns.
(1) AA: Monosyllabic adjective reduplicates once.
紅紅 hong hong ‘red’
大大 da da ‘white’
慢慢 man man ‘slow’
(2) AXX: Two reduplicated characters follow one monosyllabic adjective.
紅通通 hong tong tong ‘very red in complexion’
綠油油 lu you you ‘very greenish’
冰冷冷 bing leng leng ‘very cold’
(3) ABAB: Disyllabic adjective reduplicates once.
雪白雪白 xuebai xuebai ‘snow-white’
碧綠碧綠 bilu bilu ‘a shade of dark green’
滾圓滾圓 gunyuan gunyuan ‘round’
(4) AABB: Two disyllabic adjectives reduplicate.
a. 大大方方 da da fang fang ‘very generous or open-handed’
b. 漂漂亮亮 piao piao liang liang ‘very beautiful’
c. 整整齊齊 zheng zheng qi qi ‘very neat and tidy’
d. 清清楚楚 qing qing chu chu ‘very clear and distinct’
e. 明明白白 ming ming bai bai ‘very obvious and plain’
And I can think of some reduplicated adjectives that fit into this pattern as shown in f.-o..
f. 快快樂樂 kuai kuai le le ‘very happy’
g. 平平安安 ping ping an an ‘very safe’
h. 端端正正 duan duan zheng zheng ‘very proper and straight’
i. 乾乾淨淨 gan gan jing jing ‘very clean’
j. 古古怪怪 gu gu guai guai ‘very odd’
k. 骯骯髒髒 ang ang zang zang ‘very dirty’
l. 囉囉唆唆 luo luo suo suo ‘very wordy or troublesome’
m. 嘮嘮叨叨 lao lao dao dao ‘very garrulous’
n. 糊糊塗塗 hu hu tu tu ‘very muddled’
o. 荒荒唐唐 huang huang tang tang ‘very absurd’
詹伯慧 (1991:65) argues that the pattern AABB of reduplication is usually used to represent the superlative degree of adjectives, for example, 漂漂亮亮 means “most beautiful” which has the equivalent meaning of 很漂亮in Chinese, and 大大方方means “most generous” which has the equivalent meaning of 很大方 in Chinese. However, I do not quite agree with this point of view. I think the pattern AABB of reduplication indeed means somewhat superlative degree but not absolutely superlative degree of adjective. 大大方方 and很大方 are not exactly the same as 最大方 in semantic meaning, whereby 最 means “most of all”.
All of these four patterns have the function to reinforce the extent that the base adjectives denote. One phenomenon we can observe in the fourth type AABB above is that in j.-o. we can have the form of [A裡AB], cf. jj.-oo. below. Take 囉裡囉唆 for example, the word formation is supposed to have the following derivational processes. First, we have the base form 囉唆 and after reduplicating the first character and the second character once we get 囉囉唆唆. Second, we insert 裡 between 囉and囉to get 囉裡囉唆唆. 囉裡囉唆results after we delete the second 唆. Another word-formation of 囉裡囉唆 may be suggested to have derived from the third pattern, which reduplicates the base form 囉唆 once to get囉唆囉唆 ABAB. Then the first B can be substituted with 裡 and 囉裡囉唆 can be formed. The last assumption seems to be easier and attractiver. However, it can not be the correct derivation. Because we can not apply it onto the other examples of the third pattern, cf. *雪裡雪白, *碧裡碧綠, *滾裡滾圓.
aa. 大{大方/*裡大}方
bb. 漂{漂亮/*裡漂}亮
cc. 整{整齊/*裡整}齊
dd. 清{清楚/*裡清}楚
ee. 明{明白/*裡明}白
ff. 快{快樂/*裡快}樂
gg. 平{平安/*裡平}安
hh. 端{端正/*裡端}正
ii. 乾{乾淨/*裡乾}淨
jj. 古{古怪/裡古}怪
kk. 骯{骯髒/裡骯}髒
ll. 囉{囉唆/裡囉}唆
mm. 嘮{嘮叨/裡嘮}叨
nn. 糊{糊塗/裡糊}塗
oo. 荒{荒唐/裡荒}唐
According to盧福波 (1996:32), one explanation that accounts for the difference between aa.- ii. on one hand and jj. to oo. on the other hand can be traced to the connotation of the adjectives. Only adjectives that are negative connotated can have the variant [A裡AB], those that positive can not. Based on this semantic differentiation, we can further classify the fourth type of reduplications in Mandarin Chinese into two subcategories, the one that can have the variant [A裡AB], and the other one that cannot.
Moreover, 盧福波 (1996:33) points out that not every adjective can be reduplicated. Whether it can be reduplicated or not depends on the usual practice or habit, as demonstrated below.
整齊 ‘neat’－整整齊齊
漂亮 ‘pretty’－漂漂亮亮
美麗 ‘beautiful’－*美美麗麗
方便 ‘convenient’－*方方便便
嚴肅 ‘solemn’－*嚴嚴肅肅
3.2. The reduplication in the interrogative sentence
In Mandarin Chinese, we can insert不 ‘bu’ between the reduplicated adjectives to form a question as shown in the following examples adopted from盧福波 (1996) .
多不多？ duo bu duo? ‘Is something much?’
重不重？ zhong bu zhong? ‘Is something heavy?’
高不高？ gao bu gao? ‘Is something or someone tall?’
暖和不暖和？ nuanhuo bu nuanhuo? ‘Do you feel warm?’
乾淨不乾淨？ ganjing bu ganjing? ‘Is it clean?’
The first syllable of disyllabic adjectives will be reduplicated when inserting 不 ‘bu’ to form the inquire as illustrated below.
聰不聰明？ cong bu cong? ‘Is someone smart?’
熱不熱鬧？ re bu renao? ‘Is it thronged?’
清不清楚？ qing bu qingchu? ‘Is it clear?’
In 盧福波 (1996:33), the reduplication of adjectives intensifies the extent that it describes. Thus, it is not allowed to accept any degree adverbs to further modify the reduplication of adjectives, demonstrated below.
非常高 feichang gao ‘very tall’ *非常高高的
十分漂亮 shifen piaoliang ‘extremely beautiful’ *十分漂漂亮亮的
特別馬虎 tebie mahu ‘particularly careless’ *特別馬馬虎虎的
In my point of view, I do not quite agree with 盧福波’s statement in that we still have 有點 youdian ‘a little bit’ to modify the reduplicated adjectives as 有點高高的 youdian gaogao de ‘a little bit high’, 有點馬馬虎虎的 youdian mamahuhu de ‘a little bit careless’.
4. The reduplication of quantifiers, classifiers and measure words in Mandarin Chinese
盧福波 (1996) observes that the numeral一 ‘yi’ can be reduplicated indicating “one by one”, for example:
a. 我把這裡的情況一一向大家做了介紹。
Wo ba zheli de qingkaung yiyi xiang dajia zuole jiezhao.
‘I make the introduction about the situation here for everybody one by one.’
b. 對於大家的發問，他一一做了回答。
Duiyu dajia de fawen ta yiyi zuo le huida.
‘He replied to every question raised by everybody.’
黃宣範 (1983) also points out that the majority of monosyllabic quantifiers or classifiers can be reduplicated representing ‘every’. He raises the following examples to indicate this phenomenon.
c. 磅磅肉都要查。
Bangbang rou douyao cha.
磅 ‘bang’ is the classifier, when it is reduplicated, it means every pound.
d. 條條新聞。
Tiaotiao xinwen.
‘條’ is the classifier of news which means a piece of news. When it is reduplicated, it means every piece of news.
e. 件件衣服。
Jianjian yifu.
‘件’ is the quantifier of clothes. When it is reduplicated, it means every piece of clothes.
Other examples can also be found in盧福波 (1996:71).
f. 天氣突變，刮起陣陣狂風。
Tianqi tubian guaqi zhen zhen kuangfeng.
‘The weather suddenly changed and blowed puffs of wind.’
g. 過春節的時候，家家戶戶都放鞭炮。
Guo chunjie de shihou jiajia huhu dou fang bianpao.
‘Every household set off firecrackers during the Chinese New Year's Day.’
h. 這幾年糧食年年都是大豐收。
Zhe jinian liangshi doushi da fengshou.
‘We have a plentiful harvest of grain every year.’
In addition, the quantifier phrase can also be reduplicated as shown in the following examples illustrated in 盧福波 (1996). It has the meaning of ‘frequency and/or repetition’ . To the extent, reduplication is even necessary, when repetition is expressed, as shown in i. and m.
i. 一支一支的救援隊伍奔向災區。
Yizhi yizhi de jiuyuan duiwu benxiang zaiqu.
‘Branches of rescue team rushed into the disaster area.’
j. 她一遍一遍地囑咐我，生怕我忘記了。
Ta yibian yibian de zhufu wo shengpa wo wangji le.
‘She advised me several times for fear that I may forget.’
k. 他仔細一筆一筆地畫著。
Ta zixi yibi yibi de huazhe.
‘He carefully paint one after another.’
l. *她一遍地囑咐我，生怕我忘記了。
*Ta yibian de zhufu wo shengpa wo wangji le.
m. *他仔細一筆地畫著。
* Ta zixi yibi de huazhe.
Further, 黃宣範 (1983) notices that the multisyllabic measure words cannot be reduplicated, such as 公里gongli ‘kilometer’, 星期 xingqi ‘week’, 加侖 jialun ‘gallon’,etc. Moreover, there are some other monosyllabic time measure words that can be reduplicated such as ‘天’ and‘年’ whereas ‘月’ and ‘秒’ cannot, as illustrated below.
n. 天天 tian tian ‘every day’
o. 年年 nian nian ‘every year’
p. *月月 yue yue ‘every month’
q. *秒秒 miao miao ‘every second’
5. The reduplication of verbs and its meaning in Mandarin Chinese
5.1. The data
There are two types of verb reduplication in Mandarin Chinese. The examples are partly adopted from 盧福波 (1996):
(a) AA: Monosyllabic verb reduplicates once.
讀讀 dudu ‘to read’
走走 zouzou ‘to walk’
跑跑 paopao ‘to run’
跳跳 tiao tiao ‘to jump’
(b) ABAB: Disyllabic verb reduplicates once.
休息休息 xiuxi xiuxi ‘to take a rest for a while’
練習練習 lianxi lianxi ‘to practice’
比較比較 bijiao bijiao ‘to compare’
嘗試嘗試 changshi changshi ‘to take a try’
5.2 The syntactic constraints
There are two constraints with respect to insertion of了 ‘le’ and一 ‘yi’. 了 ‘le’ can be inserted between the reduplicated monosyllabic verbs as well as between the reduplicated disyllabic verbs. 了 ‘le’ is not allowed to attach the verb reduplication, cf. (1) vs. (2).
(1) a. A了A
聽了聽 ting le ting “ to listen”
做了做 zuo le zuo “ to do”
b. AB 了AB: Insert了 ‘le’ between the reduplicated disyllabic verbs.
學習了學習 xuexi le xuexi “ to learn and learn”
研究了研究 yanjiu le yanjiu “ to study and study”
We have another example similar to this pattern as shown below.
重覆了重覆 zhongfu le zhongfu “to repeat many times”
(2) a. *AA了
*他畫畫了圖 Ta hua hua le tu.
*她學學了菜 Ta xue le xue cai.
b. *ABAB了
Monosyllabic verbs differentiate from disyllabic verbs in that the later do not
allow to insert一 ‘yi’, cf. (3) vs. (4).
(3) A一A: Insert一 ‘yi’ between the monosyllabic verb
想一想 xiang yi xiang “ to think for a while”
唱一唱 chang yi chang “ to sing casually”
跑一跑 pao yi pao “ to run casually”
吃一吃 chi yi chi “ to eat casually”
跳一跳 tiao yi tiao “ to jump casually”
(4) *AB一AB
*學習一學習 *xuexi yi xyexi
*研究一研究 *yanjiu yi yanjiu
*重覆一重覆 *zhongfu yi zhongfu
5.3 The meaning
The verb reduplication can express ‘an attempt’ or ‘a temporarily completed act’. In (1) and (2) the verb reduplications are used to indicate the action that has been done already. They can according to 盧福波 (1996:23) also be followed by就 ‘jiu’, as shown in (3) and (4).
(1) 這個計劃我們研究了研究，覺得還可以。
Zhege jihua women yanjiu le yanjiu, juede hai keyi.
‘After considering this plan for a while, we think it is practicable.’
(2) 他想了想說： “還是你去吧！”
Ta xiang le xiang shuo haishi ni qu ba.
‘After thinking for a while, he said, “it’s your chance.”’
(3) 這個計劃我們研究了研究就放棄了。
(4) 看看就給你，不要你的。
Kankan jiu geini, buyao nide.
‘After taking a look at it, I will return to you at once.’
The verb reduplication with the meaning of “trying” can according to 盧福波 (1996:23) be followed by看 ‘kan’ , cf. (6) and (7).
(6) 商量商量看，去哪而更好？
Shangliang shangliang kan, qu naer genghao?
‘We can discuss and think of other suggestion.’
(7) 怎麼？修理不好了？來，我修理修理看。
Zenma xiuli buhao le wo xiuli xiuli kan.
‘What’s the problem? Doesn’t it work? Let me try to fix it.’
Interestingly, we find out that the verb reduplication can also be followed by 看看 ‘kankan’, whereby看看 indicates the temporary accomplishment of the act.
(6-1) 商量商量看看 shanglian shanglian kankan
(7-1) 修理修理看看 xiuli xiuli kankan
The verb reduplication can have the function of restrained tone when it is used in the imperative sentences, cf. (8)-(10). If not, the tone may become impolite or gruff, cf. (11)-(12).
(8) 老師，您休息休息吧！
Laoshi, nin xiuxi xiuxi ba.
‘Professor, please take a rest.’
(9) 我的書本不見了，你幫我找找！
Wode shuben bujian le, ni bangwo zhaozhao.
‘My book disappears, please look for it for me.’
(10) 你再幫我看一看還有什麼需要改進的。
Ni zai bangwo kan yi kan haiyou shima xuyao gaijin de.
‘Please check it for me to see if there is something to be improved.’
(11) 他不懂這段文章的意思，你給他解釋。
Ta budong zheduan wenzhang de yisi, ni gei ta jieshi.