Re: THEORY: Reduplication

Eric Christopherson wrote:

> > Quoth dirk elzinga:
> > > Actually, there is an emerging reduplication pattern in English
> > > that I call "genuine reduplication." It is total reduplication,
> > > and it is used to refer to a prototypical instance of the
> > > referent.
Yeah, I've heard this.  "Does he have an electric guitar?"  "No, he
has a guitar guitar." (meaning acoustic guitar, but actually meaning
the original guitar we all know and love... not an electric guitar.)

It almost always refers back to some original or familiar type in
contradistinction to the new term, which you or someone else has
attributed to semantic drift.

> >
> > I find it's not just prototypical instances, but to refer to the
> > original or more literal meaning of a word where the word has in general
> > undergone some sort of semantic drift or polysemy and no other word
> > exists.  Some of these that I've used with reasonable frequency include
> > "Spanish Spanish", as opposed to Mexican or South American Spanish, and
> > "Indian Indian", as opposed to American Indian.  Also used generally
> > to correct when someone clarifies incorrectly, e.g. "I put it in my
> > notebook." "You have a notebook computer?" "No, a notebook notebook.".
>
> But in the case of "Well, I don't LIKE him like him!", the reduplication
> "like [him] like [him]" refers to a kind of liking which is not just liking
> as a friend; then again, it's not really love, so perhaps it's best
> described as a crush or infatuation, which I hardly think is the original or
> more literal meaning of "like."
Fascinating! Sally
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