Reduplication in English and Arabic : a contrastive study

Abstract EN

Reduplication is a morphological process in which one or more elements is copied from the base.

It is used in many world languages with various types and uses.

The study deals with reduplication phonologically, morphologically, syntactically and semantically.

The aim of this study is to make a contrastive descriptive study of reduplication in English and Arabic.

The procedure of the study is to describe reduplication in English and then in Arabic showing its phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.

Then a contrastive part is given showing the points of difference and similarity in both languages.

Finally, conclusions are presented.

The last section is followed by two appendices in which the English and Arabic data; and the English and Arabic symbols are given.

The study ends with some conclusions.

In English, one of the parts is stressed in addition to the change in the initial consonant and medial vowel while in Arabic, different groups of reduplicative compounds are shown on the basis of the number of the syllables and the change of the sounds in the compound.

Morphologically, in both languages, the compounds are different in the degree of productivity.

Syntactically, in both languages, the parts of the compound can be of different parts of speech and the compound itself can be of different parts of speech.

Semantically, groups of words are shed light on: the two elements can be of the same meaning or different from each other in meaning; or one of the two parts is meaningless; or the whole compound is meaningless.