Reduplication in Russian


Linguistic reduplication is a distinct grammatical feature in Russian, where it can be used to derive reduplicated forms from existing stems to intensify their meanings in different ways.
Reduplication is also observable in borrowed words, such as "пинг-понг" and "зигзаг", but since the words were borrowed as is from other languages, they are not examples of reduplication as it works in the grammar of Russian.

Syllabic/root/stem reduplication

There is virtually no productive syllabic or root/stem reduplication in the modern Russian language.
An ancient lexical stratum of the Russian language provides examples such as "мама", "папа", "баба" —a phenomenon common to many languages. It is argued that these words originated in the reduplicated babbling of infants.

Word reduplication

Word reduplications are mostly the feature of the colloquial language and in most cases do not constitute separate dictionary entries. Word reduplication may occur in the following forms:
  • a hyphenated word, both of standard vocabulary or standard ad hoc word formation
  • *exact reduplication:
  • **"чуть-чуть" —a vocabulary word
  • **"белый-белый " ", lit. "white-white —ad hoc formation, for adjectives
  • *inflected reduplication:
  • **"давным-давно"
  • **"белым-бело"
  • *Reduplication of adjectives using the enhancement preposition "пре-"
  • **"большой-пребольшой"
  • A repetition of a word in dialogues as a device used either to request or to promise a higher degree of cooperation:
  • *"Давай, давай!" or "Давай-давай", —a general-purpose urge to do something, literally "give it, give it!", meaning "Come on!" or "Let's do it!"
  • *"Беги, беги!" —a specific urge to run: to run fast or to run right away.
  • *"Конечно, конечно!" —an enhanced agreement: "Of course, of course!"
  • *"Да, да" —an utterance used in dialogs to indicate either constant attention or agreement
  • Shm-reduplication and m-reduplication, to express irony, borrowed from Yiddish and Central Asian cultures respectively, sometimes used as a mockery of the corresponding languages or peoples; see Russian jokes about Georgians for examples of this phenomenon
  • As an expression of a frequentative or of a prolonged action
  • *"Тянут-потянут, вытянуть не могут" —a phrase from the classical fairy tale Repka
  • *"Смотрит, смотрит"
  • *"Шёл, шёл"
  • Onomatopoeic reduplication
  • *"Кап-кап-кап"
  • *"Тик-так" or "тик-тик-тик" ; the sound of a clock ticking
  • *"Гав-гав" ; bowwow, barking of a dog
  • Frequentative, often combined with ideophonic/onomatopoeic derivation
  • *"Чик-чик", from "чикнуть", "to slash with a knife"
  • *"Прыг-прыг", from "прыгать".

Affixal reduplication

A peculiarity of Russian language is synonymic affixal reduplication, whereby a root may acquire two productive suffixes or prefixes, different, but of the same semantics, with the corresponding intensification of the meaning:
  • Affectional diminutives:
  • *"Подруга" →"подружка" →"подруженька". Here, "г"→"ж" is an example of consonant mutation, and "-к-" and "-ень-" are two diminutive-generating suffixes. This kind of word formation is especially productive for given names: "Екатерина" →"Катя" →"Катюша" →"Катюшенька" →"Катюшенечка"
  • Another example:
  • *"Забыть" →"призабыть" →"попризабыть"