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Article published In:
Morphology and emotions across the world's languages
Edited by Maïa Ponsonnet and Marine Vuillermet
[Studies in Language 42:1] 2018
► pp. 226–255

Expressive values of reduplication in Barunga Kriol (northern Australia)

 | ARC Centre of excellence for the Dynamics of Language | The Australian National University | The University of Sydney
This article describes the semantic values of reduplication in Barunga Kriol – an English-based creole of northern Australia –, with a focus on its expressive functions. Barunga Kriol reduplication has two types of functions. Its most frequent meaning is aspectual atelicity. In addition, it has a number of expressive meanings and connotations: hypocoristic usages; descriptions of children’s games and imitations; and a softening role in imperatives and reprimands. Contrary to the aspectual value of reduplication which is iconically motivated, expressive values are motivated by the pragmatic association of reduplication with children.
Expressive uses of reduplication in Borunge are rarer and less regular than the grammaticalized aspectual uses, which are very frequent. Aspectual reduplication is optional most of the time, so that explaining its actual distribution in discourse is a complicated matter. This article shows that this distribution can often be explained in the view of the expressive values of reduplication (some of them also conveyed by affixal evaluative morphology in the Australian languages that have been replaced by this creole). Thus, taking into account the expressive dimension of reduplication contributes significantly to the linguistic analysis of the grammaticalized aspectual function of reduplication.
Keywords: reduplication, expressivity, creole, emotions, aspect
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Reduplication in Barunga Kriol
    • 2.1The language and its speakers
    • 2.2Methodology
    • 2.3The status of reduplication in Barunga Kriol
      • 2.3.1Generational variation
      • 2.3.2Evaluative morphology in Barunga Kriol and in local Australian languages
  • 3.Expressive values of reduplication
    • 3.1Hypocoristic function
    • 3.2“Pretence” function
    • 3.3Imperatives and pragmatic attenuation
  • 4.Aspectual values of reduplication
    • 4.1Atelicity
    • 4.2Redundancy: Atelic predicates
    • 4.3Redundancy: Alternative encoding of atelicity
      • 4.3.1The suffix ‑bat
      • 4.3.2The suffix ‑ing
      • 4.3.3Four alternative forms to express atelicity
  • 5.Explaining the distribution of reduplication in discourse
    • 5.1Rules of grammar: Which predicates reduplicate?
    • 5.2Rules of discourse: When do reduplicable predicates reduplicate?
      • 5.2.1Ran ‘run’
      • 5.2.2Slip ‘sleep’
      • 5.2.3Plei ‘play’
      • 5.2.4Summary of the distribution of reduplication in discourse
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 19 April 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.00009.pon
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