Morphological reduplication in Jordanian Arabic: form and function

Abstract

This study investigates the phenomenon of morphological reduplication in Jordanian Arabic in light of morphological doubling theory, offering an extensive examination of this type of reduplication in terms of form and function. Data is collected through observation of native speakers on Facebook, local television series, and in face to face daily interaction with people. Morphological reduplication is categorized as involving either the doubling of a semantically empty stem to create a morpheme, or the doubling of a monosyllabic morpheme to achieve specific pragmatic functions. The findings reveal that reduplication is an active and highly productive process in Jordanian Arabic, shedding light on its prominent role in language use and communication. This study not only contributes to a deeper understanding of the typological aspects of morphological reduplication, but also provides valuable insights into the specific characteristics of reduplication in Jordanian Arabic.

Keywords:

• Morpheme repetition
• morphological reduplication
• productivity
• syllable repetition

Reviewing Editor:

• Jeroen van de Weijer, College of International Studies, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

Subjects:

• Language & Linguistics
• Grammar, Syntax & Linguistic Structure
• Linguistic Theory
• Semantics

1. Introduction

Reduplication is a derivational tool in various morphological systems with significant implications to phonological theories such as autosegmental representations and prosodic morphology (McCarthy & Prince, 1986, 1999). Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, 2004) contributed to extensive research on reduplication and phonotactic constraints (McCarthy & Prince, 1995). Reduplication continues to spark discussions in Harmonic Serialism (McCarthy et al., 2012) to account for phonological opacity. Since reduplication seems to continuously find grounds in any developments in morphological and phonological advancements, it is only befitting to continue to affirm cross-linguistic generalizations about reduplication and add new forms and functions related to this process.

Reduplication is defined as ‘The repetition of phonological material within a word for semantic or grammatical purposes’ Rubino (2005, p. 11). Reduplicative morphemes depend for their form on some linguistic property or properties of the root, stem, or word, which serves as the base of reduplication (Inkelas & Downing, 2015). It is common throughout the languages of the world and can be either full or partial. Furthermore, full reduplication may be a universal feature since it is more common than partial reduplication, and if a language has partial reduplication, it also has full reduplication (Moravcsik, 2013).

In essence, the process of reduplication involves the repetition of a certain component of a morphological base for a certain morphological purpose. If perceived as a morpheme, it differs from other more conventional morphemes in the fact that it relies for its structure on elements of the root or base. Total reduplication involves the repetition of the entire morphological base, as in plural formation in Indonesian (Cohn, 1989, p. 185): kərá ‘monkey’_kərá-kərá ‘monkeys’. Partial reduplication, on the other hand, involves the repetition of some phonologically identifiable subpart, such as a syllable, as in plural formation in Agta (Healey 1960, cited in Marantz, 1982, p. 439): takki ‘leg’_tak-takki ‘legs’. However, the structure of reduplication is not as straightforward as exemplified in these two examples. A comprehensive discussion is found in Inkelas and Downing (2015).

Rawski et al. (2023) state that Reduplication is a common morphological process of copying, with a wide-ranging typology and they lay out the computational aspects of reduplication and reduplicative typology, and classify a wide array of reduplicative theories. Certain patterns of reduplication are harder to learn and this may explain their rarity (Haugen et al., 2022)

In this paper, we focus on two issues in relation to morphological reduplication in Jordanian Arabic (JA). On the one hand, what is the structure of the reduplicated material in JA? And on the other, what are the possible functions of this process semantically and pragmatically?

Across languages, reduplication is employed to convey a wide range of meanings. For example, it is used with self-evident symbolism to denote plurality, repetition, continuation, intensification, attenuation, etc. (Naylor, 1986; Rubino, 2005).

Many studies have dealt with reduplication in Arabic and Arabic dialects (Abu-Mansour, 2015; Al-Asbahi, 2020; Ibrahim, 1982; Igaab, 2010; Omer, 2012). Nevertheless, there are very few studies (Al-Deaibes, 2021; Anani, 2012) that have dealt with reduplication in JA. For instance, Anani (2012) investigates the relative importance of reduplication in spoken and written discourse, as well as the acceptability or non-acceptability of reduplicative collocations in formal and informal language use. Also, Al-Deaibes (2021) examines the interaction between syntax and phonology by taking into account the limitations imposed by reduplication in the grammar of the Jordanian Arabic Dialect of Irbid city.

This study distinguishes itself by exclusively focusing on JA, examining both form and function of full reduplication. Furthermore, everyday speech in JA shows a large number of linguistic items undergoing reduplication that have not been tackled locally, adding a novel dimension to the existing literature.

2. Methodology

This section outlines data collection procedures and introduces the theoretical frameworks employed for data analysis.

2.1. Data collection

The current study is interested in a qualitative analysis of data trying to shed light on and characterize special aspects pertaining to the phenomenon of morphological reduplication in JA. Data collected is non-numerical in nature. This type of data is usually collected through methods of observation, one-to-one interviews, and conducting focus groups. A way to gather data is by observing linguistic behavior of language users, events, or noting occurrences of a certain phenomenon in a natural setting. Observations can be overt where subjects know they are being observed, or covert where subjects do not know they are being watched (Ignacio 2020).

In this work, the primary method of data collection is spontaneous observation because the researchers live in Jordan, fluently speak JA, and consistently interact with native speakers of JA. In addition to personal interactions, Facebook, local TV programs and series were explored and data noted down for analysis. A panel of three professors of linguistics who are native speakers of the language validated the data.

2.2. Data analysis

As a word-formation process, reduplication is analyzed within the traditional morphological analysis techniques as discussed in (Aronoff & Fudeman, 2011; Bauer, 2019; Hayes, 2008; Heine & Narrog, 2015; Lieber, 2016). Reduplication is a unique type of concatenative morphology according to Heine and Narrog (2015). Using this operation, a stem or part of it can be copied and given as a prefix or suffix. According to Schwaiger (2015), reduplication may be used in many languages to produce new words from old ones that have no or only very weakly defined meanings. Inkelas and Downing (2015, p. 502) state that ‘Unlike other morpheme types, reduplicative morphemes depend for their form on some linguistic property or properties of the root, stem, or word, which serves as the base of reduplication’. Full or total reduplication is a process by which the entire word is repeated as in Hausa ‘bāya-bāya’ (a bit behind), whereas partial reduplication is a process by which only part of the base is repeated as in Samoan ‘la-lafo’ (clear land) (Lieber, 2016).

Discussion in this paper makes reference to the notion of Morphological doubling as outlined in Inkelas (2008) which can target a whole word, a stem, a root, or even an affix. It is an input mandate on the part of morphology. Consequently, identity in morphological doubling is computed in terms of morphosemantic content but not phonological identity (Inkelas, 2008, p. 354). The morphological functions of morphological doubling vary greatly, ranging from the familiar case of doubling associated with an iconic meaning such as pluralization to doubling associated with a more idiomatic meaning (Inkelas, 2008, p. 355).

To analyze implicit functions of reduplication, it is imperative to view the pragmatic contribution of reduplication to determine how context influences the understanding and the interpretation of what is said (George, 1996). When it comes to full morphological reduplication in JA, the process has implied connotations that go beyond the semantic meaning of the word and carries additional layers of pragmatic meaning, such as annoyance, violence, or exaggeration.

3. Literature review

This literature review aims to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge on reduplication, focusing on its theoretical perspective, meanings and functions in different languages, and its occurrence in Arabic.

3.1. Theoretical perspective

Wilbur (1973) investigates the phonology of reduplication, and states that reduplication involves copying phonological material from the base to create the reduplicant. However, he points that reduplication should be seen as a morphological process rather than a phonological phenomenon.

Moravcsik (1978) investigates reduplication, examining both its formal and semantic aspects. She proposes a generalization stating that the relevant string, which refers to the portion of a stem that is copied during reduplication, can be defined based on various phonetic properties, encompassing both segmental and suprasegmental aspects. This definition may rely on absolute linear position within the stem, the number of adjacent segments, or it can be left undefined, allowing any segments in the total string to be reduplicated.

Marantz (1982) presents a theory of reduplication based on the C-V skeleton proposal presented by McCarthy (1979,1981). His theory proposes that most reduplication can be understood as the affixation of a C-V skeletal morpheme to a stem. Additionally, he suggests that a copy of the stem’s phonemic melody is associated with the suffixed skeleton. This means that the duplicated portion of the reduplicated form retains the same phonemic melody as the original stem.

McCarthy and Broselow (1983) present a theory of internal reduplication that challenges the work of Marantz (1982). This theory investigates the rare linguistic phenomenon of infixing reduplication, where a duplicated element is inserted within the root of a word rather than as an ordinary affixation process with phonologically underspecified affixes as stated in Marantz (1982). Also, they present diverse examples from languages like Levantine Arabic, Temiar, Zuni, and others, analyzing their characteristics and implications.

McCarthy and Prince (1993a, 1993b, 1994a, 1994b, 1995, 1999) propose the Base-Reduplicant-Correspondence-Theory, which is also known as ‘Phonological Identity’. This theory states that reduplication arises from a morphological necessity, wherein the phonological components of the core unit must be duplicated in accordance with the morphological imperative.

Conversely, Inkelas and Zoll (2005) present the Morphological Doubling Theory which suggests that the doubling process between the base and the reduplicant is phonologically independent. It views reduplication as the doubling of a morphological item that satisfies particular morphosemantic requirements. So, reduplication involves morphosemantic identity rather than phonological one.

In her research, Inkelas (2008) suggests that word-internal reduplication in languages can happen in two different ways: phonological duplication and morphological doubling, or what she calls the Dual Theory of reduplication. According to her, phonological duplication serves a phonological purpose, ensuring syllable structure by repeating a sound like the onset or the nucleus. On the other hand, morphological doubling changes the word’s meaning by doubling a specific morphological unit. It is the latter type that is the interest of the current discussion.

3.2. Meaning and function of reduplication

Moravcsik (1978) notes that there is no inherent reason why reduplication should express specific meanings, but interestingly, certain meanings associated with reduplication are found to recur across different languages. He states that reduplication involves proper inclusion, where the meaning of a reduplicated construction includes that of its unreduplicated form and adds extra information. Additionally, he mentions that the concept typically expressed by reduplication in various languages is the concept of increased quantity. He provided examples from Papago demonstrating how noun reduplication signifies simple plurality: baabana ‘coyotes’ (bana ‘coyote’), tiitini ‘mouths’ (tini’mouth’) (Langacker 1972, p. 267).

Apart from the meaning of increased quantity, Moravcsik argues that reduplication is also used to express intensity, diminutiveness, and attenuation. Additionally, reduplication differentiates members of various grammatical categories, and some derivational uses correlate with specific meaning categories. For example, reduplication in Pacoh correlates with denominal verb derivation and distributive meaning, while in Mokil Ese and Twi, it is associated with denominal adjectivalization. Reduplication in Tagalog and Ewe is related to agent nominalization with implied habitualness, and in Ewe, it can also signify action nominalization with implied continuity.

In certain languages, the same reduplicative morpheme can indicate completely opposite meanings (Mattes, 2006; Moravcsik, 2013; Rubino, 2005). An example from Bikol, a Central Philippine language spoken in Southern Luzon: tumog ‘wet’ tumog-tumog ‘soaking wet’ or ‘wettish’, and lugad ‘wounded’ lugad-lugad ‘heavily wounded’ or ‘a little wounded’. (Mattes, 2006, p. 10).

Rubino (2005) states that reduplication is a versatile linguistic tool; when applied to verbs and adjectives, it serves multiple purposes. It can express number, distribution, tense, aspect, attenuation, intensity, transitivity, conditionality, reciprocity, pretense, and more. Additionally, reduplication can be used creatively to create new words, as exemplified in Ilocano with ‘taotao’ (pupil of the eye) derived from ‘tao’ (human) and ‘tukaktukak’ (wart) from ‘tukak’ (frog).

According to Schwaiger (2015), reduplication is used with verbs to denote continuity or progressivity as in Swahili -cheka ‘laugh’ → -cheka ∼ cheka ‘keep laughing’, repetition or iterativity, frequentativity or habituality, intensity, and attenuation of verbal meanings as in Malagasy mànomé ‘gives’ → mànomè∼mé ‘gives a bit’. However, he states that certain meanings are rarely or never observed to occur with any form of reduplication, such as gender, case, and negation.

In her generalization about reduplication, Moravcsik (2013) states that reduplication is most commonly used in various languages to either increase the meaning of the base word, in terms of quantity or quality. The second most frequent usage is to decrease the size or intensity of the original meaning. In this respect, Mattes (2006) argues that there is a common denominator between the two, which is change of quantity. That is, the meaning of reduplication differs from the usual sense of the base word, either by being ‘more’ or ‘less’.

When it comes to the form-meaning relationship, Lieber (2016) argues that reduplication can sometimes exhibit iconicity, where the form of the derived word suggests its meaning. Furthermore, Iconic reduplication has the capacity to convey diverse meanings, including plurality, intensity, augmentation, repetition, or other concepts associated with ‘more-ness’. She also states that reduplication may not be iconic as there are cases where it expresses meanings unrelated to ‘more-ness’, such as diminutives and other unrelated concepts.

3.3. Arabic reduplication

McCarthy and Broselow (1983) conduct an examination of biconsonantal and triconsonantal root reduplication in Arabic, with a particular focus on Levantine Arabic. They note that reduplication in Arabic is commonly associated with intensive or pejorative meanings. They also point out that triconsonantal roots undergo partial reduplication in a rather unique manner; a root C1VC2VC3 reduplicates into C1VC2 C1VC3. For example, the reduplicant ‘barbad’, meaning ‘shaved unevenly’ is derived from the triconsonantal root ‘barad’, which means ‘shave’, by inserting a copy of the first root consonant to the right of the second root consonant. McCarthy& Broselaw (1983) consider this type of reduplication as internal reduplication.

Regarding biliteral roots like ‘laf’, which reduplicate into ‘laflaf’ from the unmarked verb ‘lafaf’ (‘wrapped’), McCarthy and Broselow (1983) argue that they behave similarly to triliteral roots in Arabic intensive/pejorative reduplication. Although at first glance, the reduplicant in biliteral reduplication appears as a suffix.

Ibrahim (1982) states that verbs, such as ʃamʃama ‘to sniff’, laflafa ‘to wrap up’, and hazhaza ‘to shake repeatedly’ in which two radicals appear to have been reduplicated are results from reduplicating the first radical of a geminate verb, where the second and third radicals happen to be identical. For instance, he mentions that these reduplicants are derived from the triliteral verbs ‘ʃamma’ (to smell), ‘laffa’ (to wrap), and ‘hazza’ (to shake) respectively.

Moreover, he sheds light on reduplicated quadrilateral, such as ‘zalzala’ ‘to shake intensely’ and ‘xaʃxaʃa’ ‘to rattle’, stating that these reduplicated forms are essentially trilaterals with the first radical reduplicated.What’s more, he states that reduplication in Arabic indicates frequency, intensity, or repetition of a certain action.

Abu-Mansour (2015) explores how reduplication operates in Makkan Arabic (MA) to form quadrilateral verbs, involving the duplication of the first or third consonant of the root to convey intensive, iterative, or pejorative meanings. She also examines how reduplication uniquely influences nouns and adjectives, leading to the creation of diminutive meanings. Abu-Mansour also mentions that reduplication of biconsonantal roots leads to modification in the verb’s structure, transforming it from C1VC2C2 to C1VC2C1VC2, creating what looks like full reduplication on the surface. For instance, the verb dʒarr (derived from dʒarar) means ‘to pull’, while dʒardʒar signifies ‘to drag’. Similarly, dagg (originating from dagag) means ‘to pound’, and dagdag means ‘to pound severely’. Additionally, she notes that some reduplicated biliteral roots carry onomatopoeic meanings, representing specific sounds or movements, such as nawnaw ‘to meow’, ṭaʃṭaʃ’ to splash’, and dabdab ‘to clatter’.

In her examination of quadrilateral verbs such as ‘katkat’, El Zarka (2005) provides that this pattern resulted from the duplication of biconsonantal roots that leads to the formation of two identical or nearly identical syllables. She states that forms like these are of onomatopoeic origin. She highlights that these verbs align with the language’s derivational system and that the root can be extracted from them and used as the basis for forming nominal (noun) forms. For instance, words like ‘zalzal’ (trembling) become ‘zilza:l’ (earthquake) in Classical Arabic/Modern Standard Arabic (CA/MSA), ‘waswas’ (whisper) turns into ‘waswa:s’ (whisperer/devil) in CA/MSA, and ‘taʔtaʔ’ (lisp) transforms into ‘taʔtaʔa’ (lisping) in Egyptian Arabic (EA).

Igaab (2010) conducts a detailed comparative analysis of reduplication in English and Arabic. In her analysis of reduplication in Arabic, she classified reduplication on the basis of whether the entire base is copied or only a part of it. For example, ‘zajdan zajdan’ (a name of a man) involves full reduplication, while ‘θiqa niqa’ (confidence) includes partial reduplication. She also provides examples from Arabic on partial reduplication from this type where two words have the same morphological wazn but differ in their initial consonants, such as: ‘naaʕis waaʕis’ ‘sleepy, to make experiences’; ‘ʕaldʒam xaldʒam’ ‘long and large’. Igaab also classified reduplicative compounds of this type into four groups based on: a) whether the two words have the same meanings, such as ‘qasiim wasiim’ (a handsome man), ‘‘ʕatˁʃaan natˁʃaan’ (worried), ‘halalan balalan’(legitimate), b) whether the two words have different meanings, such as ‘dʒaaʔiʕ naaʔiʕ’(hungry, Thirsty), ‘fiqah niqah’(to understand, to recover), c) whether one of the two words is meaningless, such as ‘haar dʒaar’, where ‘haar’ means’ hot’ and ‘dʒaar’ is meaningless, and ‘saaɣib laaɣib’, where saaɣib means ‘hungry, starving’ and laaɣib is meaningless, d) whether the two words are meaningless, such as: ‘saaʔiɣ laaʔiɣ’; ‘maaʔiq daaʔiq;’, and ‘xaaʔib haaʔib’.

Omer (2012) identifies two types of reduplication in Arabic: full reduplication, where stems or roots are doubled, and partial reduplication, which includes three variations: vowel alteration (ablaut), consonant alteration (onset) and consonant gemination.

Al-Asbahi (2020) states that partial reduplication occurs in the form of consonant alteration in Arabic like ‘ħalaal zalaal’, and consonant gemination like ‘fattit’ means ‘breaking something into small pieces’. Additionally, he notes that Arabs use reduplication in their daily life for different purposes, such as describing the sound of sparrows ‘zaqzaqah,’ offering a welcome ‘ ħayyak wa bayyak’, referring to a three-wheeled taxi ‘tuktuk’, whispering ‘waʃwaʃ,’ expressing good wishes for enjoying food ‘haniiʔan mariiʔan’, indicating something that is halal (legal) ‘ ħalalan-zulalan,’ and describing confusion ‘ħiisˁ-biisˁ’, in addition to the reduplicative name ‘zamzam’ is used for a holy well in Mecca.

4. Findings and discussion

In this section, morphological reduplication in JA is divided into two major subcategories depending on whether the reduplication involves doubling a semantically-empty unit, or it is a result of doubling a monosyllablic morpheme giving additional meanings.

4.1. Doubling a semantically-empty unit

This type of reduplication includes a phonology-morphology interface. Reduplication here involves the doubling of a meaningless C1VC2 syllable producing a meaning-bearing ‘C1VC2-C1VC2’ word. These reduplicants can be seen as containing a bound root that is essentially a meaningless unit which gains its meaning only after reduplication. The combination of the two syllables forms a free morpheme. That is, they form the root to which other morphemes (affixes) can be attached. The duplicated words are very productive in the sense that they are subject to morphological derivations in the language. For instance, words ‘saxsax’ (fainted, swooned), ‘baħbaħ’ (expanded or facilitated something) are made up of two identical syllables. There is no simplex form for either word since the syllable ‘sax’ and ‘baħ’ have no independent meaning. Several words can then be derived from these reduplicants as exemplified for the word ‘saxsax’ in several simplified contexts in English.

• John saxsax (fainted) when he heard the news.

• Mary saxsax-at (fainted-fem.) when she heard the news.

• John in msaxsix (feeling fainted).

• Mary is msaxsix-a (feeling fainted-fem.)

It is worth noting from the outset that some of these bound roots do have a classical base which is not used in the language. The interest here is forms that are commonly used by speakers of JA. More examples are in Table 1.

Table 1. Repetition of a semantically-empty unit.

Reduplicant Meaning
kamkam	hid, covered his mouth
tˁartˁar	kept moving from one place to another
barbar	chattered, gossiped produced mucus
Rabrab	became fat
raʕraʕ	bloomed
Waswas	whispered bad thought
θarθar	chattered
Daldal	hanged down
bagbag /baʔbaʔ	when the wall is affected by the humidity and started to peel the sound that results from boiling the water. shouted nonsense (figurative meaning)
waʃwaʃ	whispered
daɣdaɣ	Tickled
Tamtam	muttered: said something in a low or barely audible voice
Hashas	had senility, mental disorder, or madness. (Usually used to mock someone. So, the disorder is unreal)
Basbas	became very soft and easy to shape (used usually with dough). called the cat (to say bisbis to the cat as a way of calling it).
Zalzal	shook, trembled
sˁaksˁak	Chilled
ðabðab	acted like a hypocrite.
zagzag/zaʔzaʔ	became naked creaked
dʒaʕdʒaʕ	shouted and spoke in a loud voice during anger
sˁaħsˁaħ	became very alert
xaʃxaʃ	rattled
Walwal	screamed and complained about something at the same time usually with weeping.
laglag/laʔlaʔ	talked intensively and repeatedly
Karkar	tickled
Taktak	organized perfectly.
ʃagʃag/ ʃaʔʃaʔ	visited repeatedly for a short period of time
baʕbaʕ	Spoke nonsense loudly with anger
nahnah	exhausted
naħnaħ	cleared his throat

The reduplicants ‘bagbag,’ ‘zagzag,’ ‘laglag,’ and ‘ʃagʃag’ belong to the Rural variety, and have the equivalents ‘baʔbaʔ,’ ‘zaʔzaʔ,’ ‘laʔlaʔ’, and ‘ʃaʔʃaʔ’ in the Urban variety.¹.

Table 2. Intensity-expressing reduplicants.

Reduplicants	Meaning	Source category
dabdab	gained weight and become like a bear. walking heavily because of weight.	derived from the noun ‘dob’ (a bear) or the verb ‘dabb’ (causing noise while walking because of weight)
dasdas	kept participating or intervening in every event or situation.	the bilateral verb ‘dass’ (to insert something)
fadˁfadˁ	released and told what was bothering you	the bilateral verb ‘fadˁdˁ (to release or to kick up something)
ratˁratˁ	shook intensely or moved in wobbly or jelly-like way	the bilateral, colloquial verb ‘ratˁ’ (to move in jelly-like way)
ʕalʕal	bothered others severely through procrastination or by causing harm	the bilateral verb ‘ ʕall’ (to make someone sick)
faħfaħ	spread or diffused intensively, typically used with smells and fragrances	the trilateral verb ‘ fwħ’ (to spread)
marmar	caused an intense bitter taste kept procrastinating with someone to a very annoying level	the bilateral verb ‘marr’ (to give a bitter taste)
ħalħal	spread gradually in an intensive and notable way	the bilateral verb ‘hall’ (to dissolve)
ħatˁħatˁ	was in a very missy situation, where everything is unorganized and thrown on the ground	the bilateral verb ‘ħatˁtˁ’ (to put)
ʃaʕʃaʕ	shined intensively	the verb ʃaʕʕ (to shine).
balbal	intensively wet something	the verb ‘ball’ (to make something wet)
ɣalɣal	penetrated and merged with the ingredients of something.	the verb ‘ɣall ‘ (to insert).

Table 3. State or mood-conveying reduplicants.

Reduplicants	Meaning	Examples
maxmax	focused on something as if he put his brain in it. became in a state of joyful relaxation or enjoyment	gaʕid b-maxmix ʕala ʔil-liktab (I am focusing on the book) minna nitˁlaʕ intˁiʃ win-maxmix (we want to go out and enjoy).
ʃabʃab	attempted to act youthfully	ʔil-ħadʒi gaʕid bit-ʃabʃab (the old man is trying to become young)
matmat	performed tasks very slowly, as if he were in a state of death	daajman b-tdˁallii tt-matmat-ii w intii btidʒlii (you always clean the dishes very slowly).
malmal	was in a state of boredom or did things boringly.	la tdˁalli tt-malmalii (do not keep complaining about boredom).
ʔafʔaf	said the interjection ‘uff’ as a way of nagging and expressing annoyance.	la tdˁal tt-ʔafʔaf ʔind widʒhii (do not keep saying ‘uuf’ in front of my face).
ħatˁħatˁ	was in a very missy situation, where everything is unorganized and thrown on the ground	laa tdˁal ʔil-daar im-ħatˁħatˁa hiik (do not let the house missy like this). maalkum hiik m-ħatˁħatˁiin! (why are you missy like this !)
kankan	talked secretly with someone especially your lover.	ʃuu bit-kankin bil-talifuun! (so you are talking secretly on the phone!)
zahzah	experienced elation, euphoria, or a high sense of relaxation.	iʕmalli ʔrgiilih xallina in-zahzih (prepare Argeelah for me and let us enjoy and feel high). zahzah-it min hada ildawaa (I felt a high sense of relaxation because of this medicine)

Table 4. Reduplicants combining repetition and intensity.

Reduplicants	Root Meaning	Examples
tˁaltˁal	tˁall (looked at)	maalak bi-tˁtˁaltˁil ʕaliina? (why do you keep looking at us?)
masˁmasˁ	masˁsˁ (sucked)	biddi ʔʕmallak ʔklih it-masˁmisˁ asˁaabʕak waraaha (I will make you a meal that you will suck your fingers after eating it).
hazhaz	hazz (shook)	laa tdˁal it-hazhiz bridʒliik. (do not keep shaking your legs).
radʒradʒ	radʒdʒ (shook)	ʔidiik bi-radʒridʒu kθiir (your hands are shaking intensively).
ʃamʃam	ʃamm (sniffed)	liiʃ bitdˁal it-ʃamʃim bil-ʔwaaʕi? (why do you keep sniffing the clothes?).
taftaf	taff (spit)	la itxalli ʔil-walad ij-taftif ʔlaa ħada (do not let the boy spit on others).
basˁbasˁ	basˁsˁ (looked at)	haada ʔil-zalamih bijdˁal ij-basˁbisˁ ʕala ʔil-banaat (this man keeps looking at girls).
habhab	habb (blew)	fii riiħa ħilwa bit-habhib (there is a good smell that keeps blowing).
gaħgaħ/ ʔaħʔaħ	qaħħ (coughed).	sˁurt ʔ-qaħqiħ min riiħit ʔidduxaan. (I am coughing because of the smoke).
tˁaxtˁax	tˁaxx (shot)	ʔil-dʒiiraan tˁaxtˁax-uu bil-ʕurs (the neighbors shot many times in the wedding).
ʕadˁʕadˁ	ʕadˁdˁ (bited)	ʔil-walad bi-ʕadˁʕidˁ bil-lahaayih. (the boy is biting the pacifier).
tˁantˁan	tˁann (buzzed)	iðnii bit-tˁantˁin min ʔil- sˁubiħ. (my ear has been buzzing since morning).
rasˁrasˁ	rasˁsˁ (stacked or compacted something)	rasˁrasˁ-t ʔi-zzaitoun bil-martabaan (I compacted the olive in the container).
fasˁfasˁ	fasˁsˁ (divided or separated/ examined something minutely).	gaʕdih bit-fasˁfisˁ bizir (she is dividing the seeds) biddi ʔ-fasˁfisˁ ʔil-madih fasˁfasˁh (I am going to examine the material carefully).
laflaf	laff (rotated)	hada ʔi-ssajig bi-dˁal ij-laflif bil-balad (this driver keeps moving around in the town). raħ ʔatʔaxar liʔani biddi ʔlaflif bis.suug (I’ll be late because I want to check out the markets)
tˁagtˁag/ tˁaʔtˁaʔ	tˁaqq (knocked)	laa itdˁal it- tˁaqtˁiq minnaa niʕrif innam (do not keep knocking because we want to sleep).
ħakħak	ħakk (scratched)	liiʃ bit-ħakħik hiik (why are you scratching this much)
dandan	dann (sang in a very low voice)	ʔzʕadʒitnii w enta et-dandin (you bothered me while you were humming).
sabsab	sabb (insulted)	bit-dˁal it-sabsib ʕalaai (you keep insulting me).

4.2. Morpheme repetition

This type of reduplication includes repetition of an entire root (a whole morpheme) to add additional (semantic and/or pragmatic) meaning. According to Anani (2012), reduplicative forms such as/fakfak/’he loosened’,/ʃamʃam/’he sniffed’, and/ħakħak/’he scratched’, are frequently heard in spoken Arabic even though they are not cited in Classical Arabic (CA) dictionaries. He argues that identifying Arabic reduplicative words is quite simple. They are made up of two morphemes with the same structure (C1VC2.C1VC2). The first morpheme is a bilateral root made up of a compatible pair of consonants, and the second is a repetition of the root or stem indicating increased activity or size. Examples cited in Anani (2012) are derived from a verbal root morpheme.

In this study, however, we will cite different possible roots for the reduplicants which will be categorized into three primary subcategories, based on their semantic and pragmatic meanings. These subcategories include reduplicants signifying intensity, those conveying state or mood, and those embodying intensity alongside additional meanings. Furthermore, the latter category will be further subdivided into two groups.

4.2.1. Intensity-expressing reduplicants

In this subcategory, the repetition serves to intensify or emphasize the meaning associated with the base. For example, the JA reduplicant ‘ʕaʃʕaʃ ‘, which might be taken either from the verb ‘ ʕaaʃ ‘ (lived), or from the noun ‘ʕuʃʃ ‘ (nest), has an intensive meaning means ‘to dwell and be empowered’. Also, the reduplicant ‘ħabħab’, which is derived from the noun ‘ħabb-a’ (pimple-fem.), has the meaning of being filled with pimples and acne. Alternatively, its origin might be traced to the noun ‘ħabba’ (pill-fem.), suggesting a person who regularly consumes drugs or pills. Furthermore, the same reduplicant ‘ħabħab’, could be derived from the bilateral verb ‘ħabb’ (loved) to have the meaning of loving someone or something intensively. Table 2 contains the rest of the JA reduplicants that belong to this subcategory.

Some reduplicants seem to be derived from a noun or a verb such as ‘dabdab’, other reduplicants are just formed by repeating the bilateral verbs they are essentially made of such as ‘ʕalʕal’,’marmar’ …etc. However, the reduplicant ‘dabdab’ is usually used to signify a person gaining weight and becoming as hefty and fat as a bear. Moreover, the reduplicant ‘ ħalħal’ conveys some sense of continuity. For instance, in the sentence ‘ʔil-taʕab ballaʃ yitħalħal ʕala dʒismii’ (the fatigue began to spread strongly throughout my body) the reduplicant ‘ħalħal’ denote that the fatigue is constantly spreading throughout the body in increasing degrees.

4.2.2. State or mood-conveying reduplicants

Reduplication in JA can be used to denote certain state or mode of someone or something. Most reduplicants of this type are derived from nouns, and some of them cannot come without a prefix. Table 3 provides examples of this type.

It is worth mentioning that the verbal reduplicants ‘maxmax’, ‘matmat’, ‘dabdab’, and ‘ʔafʔaf’ are derived from the nouns ‘muxʼ(brain), ‘mo:tʼ (death), ‘dubb’ (bear), and the interjection ‘uffffʼ respectively. Here, the interjection ‘uffff’ is used in Arabic culture and Middle East, to convey a variety of emotions, including annoyance, frustration, exhaustion, or exasperation. It is often accompanied by a sigh or a deep breath, and the intensity of the ‘uffff’ can indicate the degree of the emotion being expressed. Therefore, the reduplicant ‘ʔafʔaf’’ is also used to express these pragmatic meanings depending on the context. On the other hand, the reduplicant ‘ʃabʃab’ might be derived from the bilateral verb ‘ʃabb’ (to grow up). Also, the reduplicant ‘ħatˁħatˁ’ is derived from the bilateral verb ‘ħatˁtˁʼ (to put). ‘ħatˁħatˁ’ is mentioned earlier in the previous section to express intensity of an action or the intensity of the state of chaos. So, it belongs to the two subcategories. The same goes for the reduplicant ‘dabdab’, it is used to describe a state of someone and at the same time conveys some sense of intensity. Furthermore, the reduplicants ‘ʃabʃab’ and ‘matmat’ have the sense of ‘becoming like’. That is, to become like young ‘ʃaabʼ and to become like a dead person ‘majjitʼ respectively.²

All in all, all the reduplicants in this type have gained their morphological structure from the roots that they originate from, whether these roots are verbs or nouns. Furthermore, it is clear from the examples in the table above that these reduplicants describe a state or condition of someone or something. Here, reduplication seems to add extra semantics and pragmatic meanings that cannot be found or expressed by the root words.

4.2.3. Reduplicants denoting repetition plus other meanings

This part is divided into two subcategories, depending on the meanings conveyed by reduplication and the contextual aspects that contribute to those meanings.

4.2.3.1. Reduplicants combining repetition and intensity

In this type of reduplication, the bilateral verb roots that have (C1VC2) form, are being duplicated into (C1VC2C1VC2) to express intensity and repetition of the action denoted by the root verb. Table 4 includes more such reduplicants

The reduplicant ‘gargar’ (talked a lot and repeatedly, used typically to denote gossiping) is the reduplicated form of the colloquial verb ‘garr’ (admitted), which is originally taken from the Arabic quadrilateral verb ‘ ʔaqarr’ (admitted).

However, most of these reduplicants are used to denote annoyance or exaggeration. The context in which they are used plays a crucial role in determining what they denote. For example, the reduplicant ‘laflaf ‘(moved from one area to another either on feet or by vehicles) in the sentence ‘ tʔax.xa.rit la.ʔin.nu ʔil-basˁ dˁal ij-laf.lif bil-ba.lad’ (I was late because the bus kept moving around in the town) is used to denote annoyance or simply moving around to check out something.Maybe the bus moved from one area to another just once, but the speaker is expressing his rage because he was late due to that movement. Another example is when one of the students in the classroom complained about her classmate to the teacher by saying: ‘miss, Jana bit-sabsib ʔalajj’ (Jana keeps insulting me) while Jana only did that once, but the student here used the reduplicant ‘sabsab’ to express her bad feeling and annoyance.

Similarly, many reduplicants extend their meaning beyond mere repetition and intensity. Depending on the context and the pragmatic meaning, some reduplicants can evoke a sense of violence or force. Table 5 below presents a list of such reduplicants, showcasing their ability to convey both repetition and intensity, as well as some sense of violence:

4.2.3.2. Reduplicants signifying repetition, speed, and continuity

Within the realm of reduplication in JA, there is a remarkable set of reduplicants each of which carry within it the semantic and pragmatic connotations of repetition, speed, and continuity. These reduplicants express all of these meanings simultaneously. Moreover, they can convey either a sense of slowness or rapidity and exhibit sporadic or consistent continuity depending on the context. Table 6 below provides an in-depth discussion of these multifaceted reduplicants

The reduplicants ‘rafraf’, ‘kaʃkaʃ ‘ and ‘mazmaz’ as shown in the table above originated either from the bilateral colloquial verbs ‘raff’,’ kaʃʃ’ and ‘mazz’ respectively or they have roots in CA quadrilateral (rubaaʕi) verbs. On the other hand, the reduplicants ‘nagnag’/’naʔnaʔ’, ‘harhar’ and ‘katkat’ seem to originate from the bilateral colloquial verbs ‘nagg/naʔʔ’, ‘harr’ and ‘katt’ respectively.

Additionally, the reduplicant ‘hazhaz’ might express slowness or quickness depending on the context. If it expresses quickness, it may carry some connotation of violence as mentioned previously, but if it expresses slow motion, it carries some connotation of calmness. However, most of these reduplicants may carry different meanings in different contexts.

5. Reduplication and productivity

Morphological productivity refers to the ability of a language to provide its users with linguistic tools enabling them to comprehend expressions they never heard before and produce expressions they never produced before. Morphological doubling discussed in this paper is such a tool. For instance, reduplication of a semantically empty syllable to create a meaningful words discussed in section 4.1 showcases a large number of verbs that were created by reduplication and become meaningful words in JA. For example, the reduplicant ‘nahnah’ (exhausted) became a significant root in JA, and it can be used in various forms. It can be used in the present tense when attached to present tense markers such as ‘be-nahnih’,’bit-nahnah’, and it can also function as an adjective ‘im-nahnah’ (exhausted), or as a noun ‘nahnahah’(exhaustion). The same goes for the reduplicant ‘barbar’ (talked). It can be used to create the noun ‘barbarah’ (talkativeness), and it can be attached to present tense markers to form verbs in present tense, such as ‘bit-barbiruu’,’bi-barbir’ and so on. Most reduplicants of this type (syllable repetition) show productivity in JA. Additionally, morpheme repetition discussed in section 4.2 shows a high degree of productivity in JA. For example, the reduplicant ‘ ʃaqʃaq’ (tore up) can be used to form the noun ‘ʃaqʃaqah’ (tearing up) and the adjective ‘im- ʃaqʃaq’ (torn up), and the same goes for nearly all reduplicants in this type of reduplication.

Reduplication in JA is a highly productive phenomenon because speakers of JA can apply reduplication to give rise to new words that can be easily understood by others who are familiar with the language. Additionally, the resulting reduplicants can be easily combined with the affixes of the Arabic morphological system in order to create words of diverse morphological categories.

6. Conclusion

This paper investigated morphological doubling in JA in terms of form and function. The language reduplicates semantically empty syllables to produce meaningful words which are in turn used as material for the rich morphological derivational system in the language resulting in more and more new expressions in the language. Meaning-bearing morphemes are also reduplicated to create new words with an added pragmatic function. Again such expressions lend themselves to morphological derivation in the language adding to the richness and creativity of the language. Reduplication in JA is a very common and productive process, serving a variety of communicative functions, such as repetition, intensity, denoting state or mood, speed, and continuity. Also, it is used to denote many pragmatic functions, such as violence, annoyance, or exaggeration.

The discussion focused on full reduplication in JA and left partial reduplication for future research and investigation. The effect of reduplication on learnability may inspire further investigations. The wide range of types of reduplication across languages can be classified based on ease of learning (Haugen et al., 2022). Since the focus in this paper was the general form and function of reduplication, a more careful data collection procedure may relate the use of these reduplication patterns to non-linguistic factors such as gender, age, or dialect.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Table 5. Reduplicants that express violence.

Reduplicants	Root Meaning	Examples
dʒardʒar	dʒarr (dragged).	walla lʔa-dʒardʒir-ak bil-maħaakim. (I swear I will drag you into courts).
fatfat	fatt (tore up).	liiʃ hiik im-fatfit ʔil-xubiz ʕla ʔil-ʔrdˁ! (Why did you tear up the bread on the ground this way!) .
hadhad	hadd (broke down, destroyed).	ʔil-ʃuɣul hadhad ħe:lii. (the work broke down my ability).
hazhaz	hazz (shook).	hazhaz θiqat ʔil-walad bi-nafsuh (he shook the boy’s self-confidence).
ʃagʃag / ʃaʔʃaʔ	ʃagg/ʃaqq (to tore up)	ʔil-iktaab it-ʃagʃag (the book tore up).
tˁagtˁag/ tˁaʔtˁaʔ	tˁagg/ tˁaqq (knocked, cracked).	wallah lʔa-tˁagtˁig iʕdˁaamak. (I swear I will crack your bones).
dagdag/daʔdaʔ	dagg/daqq (knocked).	miin bi-dagdig fuug ruusna? (Who is knocking above our heads?) .

Table 6. Reduplicants signifying repetition, speed, and continuity.

Reduplicants	Root meaning	Speed	Examples
rafraf	raff /rafraf (flapped)	quickness	ʔi-tˁtˁiir bi-rafrif bi-dʒinħaanuh (the bird is flapping its wings).
kaʃ kaʃ	kaʃʃ /kaʃkaʃ (fired) (expel)	Quickness	kaʃkaʃ-it ʔil-ħamaam (I was firing the pigeon ‘causing them to fly away’)
ʃamʃam	ʃamm (smelled)	slowness	ʃamʃam-it kul ʔil- ʔwaʕii. (I smelled all the clothes).
lamlam	lamm (gathered)	slowness	lamlam-it kul ʔil-warag. (I gathered all the papers).
fakfak	fakk (untied)	slowness	tˁuul ʔil-juum wʔana ʔ-fakfik bil-baradi.(I spent all the day untying the curtains).
baxbax	baxx (sprayed)	slowness	baxbax ʔil-ʕutˁir (he sprayed the perfume).
dˁabdˁab	dˁabb (hid)	slowness	kunt ʔ-dˁabdˁib bil- ʔwaʕii.(I was packing the clothes).
ʃarʃar	ʃarr (dropped, flowed)	slowness	kaasak bi- ʃarʃir. (your mug is dripping). ʔil ħanafijjih bit-ʃarʃir. (the faucet is dripping).
harhar	harr (fell, dropped)	slowness	sandwiiʃtak harhar-at ʕala ʔil-ʔrdˁ. (your sandwich is falling on the ground).
kabkab	kabb (fell, dropped or threw)	slowness	laa itkabkib bizir ʕala ʔil-ʔrdˁ. (do not drop the seeds on the ground).
mazmaz	mazz/mazmaz (drank or ate little by little.)	slowness	gaʕid ba-mazmiz ʕala ʔil-ʕasˁiir. (I am drinking the juice little by little).
hazhaz	hazz (shook)	slowness	hazhazat lal-walad ħatta naam. (I shook the boy until he slept).
madmad	madd (stretched)	slowness	ʔil-daaljih btit-madmad ʕala ʔil-imʕarraʃ. (the grape tree is stretching on the throne).
nagnag/naʔnaʔ	nagg/naqq (pecked)	slowness	bi-nagnig bil-ʕakil nagnagah. (he is pecking the food). nagnagat ʔil-ʔkil zajj ʔil-dʒadʒih. (she pecked the food like a chicken).
raʃraʃ	raʃʃ (sprayed or sprinkled)	slowness	ʔi-ddinja bit- raʃriʃ. (it is drizzling). gaaʕid bi-raʃriʃ ʕutˁur. (he is spraying perfume).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Khaled H. Abu-Abbas

Khaled H. Abu-Abbas, An associate professor of linguistics at Jordan University of Science and Technology with a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Kansas since 2003. My major research interest is in phonology within Optimality Theory, stress and assimilation processes assignment in Arabic,and sociophonetics.

Amal R. Alomari

Amal R. Alomari, Recently received my Masters degree in Linguistics from Jordan University of Science and Technology. Currently involved in teaching English for speakers of Arabic. I’m particularly interested in Morphology, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics.

Notes

1 The Arabic voiced uvular stop (q), has two different pronunciations in JA depending on the dialect. In the Rural variety, it is pronounced as the velar stop (g), while in the Urban variety, it is pronounced as the glottal stop (ʔ). Consequently, throughout this study, when discussing examples containing the velar stop (g) in the Rural variety, the equivalent pronunciation in the Urban variety is the glottal stop (ʔ).

2 Some meanings might overlap, but the focus in this study is on the dominant meaning or pragmatic function.