Twice a word

Words of our languages funnily go through several processes. One of such is reduplication. One interesting thing about reduplication is the fact that the base word that is reduplicated doesn't always have a meaning related to the one formed through reduplication.

A typical example is the Yoruba word "Patapata." You have four syllables but the word that comes to form this word is "pata," the Yoruba word for "panties." You would have been tempted to believe that "patapata" should therefore mean, "pantiespanties." Pace that mathematical assumption, "patapata" actually means "completely," or "absolutely."

Sometimes, the base word has a meaning related to the reduplicated product but not the exact meaning. That is why Swahili's word "polepole" meaning "gently" is not exactly the same in meaning with "pole" though they are related. They cannot be used in the same instance, for the word "pole" means "gentle" or "slow" in Swahili.

Even in English, "gentle" and "gently" relate in meaning, they cannot function in the same way in a sentence. You can do something "gently" but you cannot do something "gentle." The word class in which a word belongs determines its exact usage and meaning in a given circumstance. "Gentle" is an adjective while "gently" is an adverb.

Yoruba language has a host of words formed by reduplicating the base word: kondukondu, lasanlasan, wamuwamu, yeriyeri, roborobo etc. Yala language too has pinyepinye and a host of others. Swahili has pilipili, polepole etc. The base word might have a meaning relationship with the reduplicated form. At other times, the reduplicated word does not have any tangible meaning affinity with the base word that formed it.

And don't start thinking that it's only African languages that are fond of creating new words through reduplication of base words. The English language has through the centuries enjoyed this word formation process. English does not however have perfect reduplication of base words as African languages have them. For example, the word “razzle-dazzle” is formed through the duplication of the word “dazzle.”

One would have thought “dazzle-dazzle” should be the reduplicated version. We only have a repetition of “azzle” which is not even a word in English. The same applies to “fiddle-faddle,” where “ddle” is not an existing word in English. “Dilly-dally” does not let us know the exact word that is reduplicated as we only see repetition of the letters d, l, and y.

An African language would have just had it as “dillydilly” or “dillydally.” In “super-duper,” we really cannot exactly determine the reduplicated base word as the repeated “uper” is not an English word.

Obvious it is that most African words that came into being through reduplication do not hew to the English style of duplication. This is the reason African speakers of English are likely to impose the duplication style of their languages on certain English words to show urgency or emphasis.

For example, Yoruba speaker of English would probably say “quickquick” or “sharpsharp” in order to make you do something quickly because the Yoruba word for “quickly” is “kiakia,” a duplication of “kia.” A Swahili speaker of English would probably say “gentlygently” in the bid to make you go easy on a task or someone because the Swahili word for “slowly” or “gently” is “polepole.”

Written by Omidire Idowu

Omidire, Idowu Joshua is a professional editor, proofreader, researcher, and literary agent. His works have appeared on several online magazines. Find him at noblelifeliver@gmail.com