CAPITOL UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL
Cagayan de Oro City

ABEGAIL MAE M. ZABALLERO

MAEd-English 1
Introduction to Linguistics
Dr. Eva Labrada- Alcantara

REDUPLICATION IN PHILIPPINE LANGUAGES

The systematic repetition of phonological material within a word for semantic

or grammatical purposes is known as reduplication, a widely used
morphological device in a substantial number of the languages spanning the
globe. Reduplication is used to create many words in the Filipino language. It
is a linguistic process in which the root or stem of a word, or a portion of it, is
repeated. It's employed to change the meaning of a word, to express
grammatical functions like plurality and intensification, or to generate new
words; and some words, like many Filipino terms, are merely reduplicated
version. Many Filipinos think that reduplication is unique to the Filipino
language. Actually reduplication is found in a wide range of languages
including English: for example, hokey-pokey, super-duper, bye-bye, chit-chat,
criss-cross, pitter-patter, zigzag, and honky-tonk.

Reduplication is a very widespread construction in the world’s languages. Of

the 368 languages in Rubino’s survey of reduplication for the World Atlas of
Language Structures online (http://www.wals.info, as of January 2013), 85%
show some form of productive reduplication. Of the languages exhibiting
productive reduplication, 277 (89%) exhibit both full and partial reduplication.
Only 35 languages show only full reduplication, and none show only partial
reduplication.
For purposes of the accompanying typological map, two types of reduplication
are distinguished based on the size of the reduplicant: full vs. partial. Full
reduplication is the repetition of an entire word, word stem (root with one or
more affixes), or root, e.g. Tausug (Austronesian, Philippines) full word lexical
reduplication dayang 'madam' vs. dayangdayang 'princess'; laway 'saliva' vs.
laway-laway 'land snail', or full root reduplication. Partial reduplication may
come in a variety of forms, from simple consonant germination or vowel
lengthening to a nearly complete copy of a base. In Pangasinan (Austronesian,
Philippines) various forms of reduplication are used to form plural nouns.

Here are some instances of reduplication in the Philippine Language:

(1) too 'man' > totöo CV- 'people'; amigo 'friend' > -CV- amimigo 'friends';
baley 'town' > CVC- balbaley 'towns'; plato 'plate' > CjV- paplato 'plates';
manok 'chicken' CVCV- > manomanok 'chickens'; and dueg 'water buffalo'
> Ce- dereweg /dedeueg/ 'water buffaloes'. (Rubino 2001a)12 Carl
Rubino Ilocano (Austronesian, Philippines) employs a number of types of
partial reduplication with various word classes, where the reduplicated
material can be a partial root, simple root, a partial stem (bimorphemic
entity), or a full word.
(2) In Limos Kalinga (Austronesian, Philippines, a certain iterative
construction is used consisting of the prefix maka-, a copy of the first
syllable of the base, a light copy of the second (minus the final
consonant, if any), and gemination of the first consonant at the affix
boundary (Ferreirinho 1993:90).
Examples: belat screen belat-belit underhanded
ganti substitute gonta-ganti reciprocal
umbang float umbang-ambing drift to and fro
tjoreng scratch tjoreng-moreng full of scratches
tjerai sever tjerai-berai disperse
erot crooked erang-erot zigzag
(3) Talisman is the English translation for this reduplicated Filipino word.
Sometimes some will just say anting, and although it is acceptable and
understandable, it is still preferably said reduplicated by most - anting-
anting.

With regard to form the following are the principal varieties of

reduplication, viz.,

1) monosyllabic, where a single syllable is reduplicated to form a root, e.

g., ol'ol 'mad '.

2) partial, where one syllable near the beginning of a word is

reduplicated, the syllable being either the first syllable of a root or one of
the syllables of a prefix, e. g., susulat from sulat 'write'. magkaka-uttang
from magka-utang ' owe'. magigin-bandl from magin-bandl 'become good'.

3) full, in which the first two syllables of a word or root are repeated, e.
g., araw'araw from araw 'day'. sangposangpo'wo from sangpowo 'ten'.

In the various Spanish grammars the accent marks are used to

denote both the tonic syllable and the final glottal catch, but without
Reduplication is a common linguistic phenomenon, consisting of the
repetition of the whole or part of a word, which is found to a certain
extent in probably all languages. In many it has failed to be adopted as a
part of the machinery or grammar of the language, and is of little or no
importance; in others it has become a part of the bone and sinew of the
language, and has given rise to many important categories. Nowhere,
perhaps, is this linguistic principle more productive of results than in the
Philippine languages, and here it probably finds its highest development
in Tagalog, the most important language of the archipelago.

Reduplication in Tagalog may be of one or more syllables, and it

may be at the beginning or end of a word. The final consonant of a
syllable that is reduplicated is not repeated unless it is the final
consonant of a word or root.

4) combined partial and full, e. g., iisaisa from isa 'one '. babalibaligtad
from baligtad 'turn'.

5) reduplication of the final syllable, e. g., bulaklak 'flower' from *bulak.

himaymay 'separate meat from bones' from himay (same).

6) final reduplication which consists in adding at the end of a dissyllabic

word a syllable consisting of the initial consonant of the first syllable and
the vowel and final consonant of the last syllable, e. g., kaliskis 'scale (of
fish) ' from kalis 'to scrape'.

Reduplication may be either significant or non-significant, i. e.,

non-significant in the sense that its significance is not apparent, or that
no special semantic category arises from the reduplication, though in
every case there was doubtless a reason for the reduplication.

Classes (I), (5) and (6) are always non-significant; partial

reduplication (2) is non-significant in the following cases, viz.,

a) in certain nouns simple and derivative, e. g.,

lalaki 'man'. babadyi 'woman'.masasaktin 'sickly'. inaama 'god-father'.

b) in the numerals: dalawit (<*dadawa) 'two . tatlo ' three'. uniformity or

consistency. The following system based partly on their usage is here
employed, viz.,

a= accent on either penult or ultima.

a= glottal catch on final unaccented vowel.

=a accented final vowel with glottal catch.

Here, for instance, the reduplication may be used to emphasize the

strength or size of the male (laki means 'greatness, size'). The following
word babadyi 'woman' may owe its reduplication to analogy with this
word.

c) in roots of the magkan verbal class, which indicates 'to emit from
body voluntarily', e. g., magkanluluhad 'to weep (modal) '.

Significant reduplication, generally speaking, emphasizes or

strengthens in some way the meaning of the simple word. The various
significant uses of reduplication are the following.

Partial reduplication (2) indicates emphasis, intensiveness, or

plurality in the following cases, viz.:

a) adjectives with prefixed ma form their plural thus, e. g., mabubuti

from mabuti 'good'.

b) adjectives of equality denoting 'as much of the quality as ', take this
form of reduplication when more than two individuals are compared, e.
g., magkalaki, singlaki, magkasinglaki 'as large as'; magkakalaki,
singlalaki, magkakasinglaki, 'equally large'.

c) the words kaunti 'a little', munti 'a little, small', make the forms
kakaunti, mumunti, which are usually employed as plurals.

d) nouns of relationship with prefixed mag, e. g., mag-ama ‘father and

child' take this form of reduplication to denote a group of three or more,
e. g., mag-aama 'father and children'.

e) the exclamatory expressions formed of abstract noun + genitive with

the meaning of how + predicate adjective +subject, e. g., buti niya 'how
beautiful she is!' (literally 'beauty of her !')may have their meaning
intensified by this form of reduplication, which is used especially when
the genitive is plural, e. g., bubuti niya 'how beautiful she is ! !' bubuti
nila 'how beautiful they are ! !'
 f) with numerals and names of pieces of money this reduplication
emphasizes the meaning of the numerals in a restrictive sense, e. g., iisa
'only one' from isa 'one,' titigalawd 'only two apiece' from tigalawd 'two
apiece'. miminsan 'only once' from minsan 'once', pipiso ' only one peso'
from piso 'peso'.

g) a similar restrictive reduplication is found in nouns of individuality

with prefixed ka, e. g., katdwo 'one man', kaka-tdwo 'one man only'.

h) in the regular verbal forms this kind of reduplication indicates

intensity in time, e. g., from the root laro 'play' we have naglalaro present
from naglaro present and maglalaro future from maglaro modal; the
same reduplication is found in most verbal nouns of action, e. g.,
paglalaro 'act of playing'.

i) intensive active imperatives are formed by prefixing kato the partially

reduplicated root, e. g., kalalakad 'go quickly '.

j) the same formation as in (i) is used as a passive verbal form in the

sense of 'to have just', e. g., kaaalis niya 'he has just gone' from alis 'go'.

k) the oblique case of the article, sa, followed by a partially reduplicated

noun or root is said to indicate that something has been done which is
displeasing to the speaker, e. g.,sa titingin ka 'you kept on looking :' here
the force of the reduplication is probably to emphasize the
incontrovertibility of the statement as in 'you did, you know you did, you
needn't deny it'.

In (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) the reduplication usually denotes plurality, though
at times it intensifies some idea other than number; in (f), (g) it
emphasizes the idea of individuality or number; in (h), (i), (j) it indicates
additional vividness in time relations; in (k) it emphasizes the
incontrovertibility of the statement.

Partial reduplication (2) denotes distribution in,

 a) the distributive numerals with prefixed tig from 'five' upward, e. g.,
tiglilima ' five each' from lima ' five '.

b) nouns derived from names of money with the suffix in, e. g.,
sasalapiin 'having value of a salapi each', from salapi 'half-peso '.

c) magkakano 'how much apiece' from magkano 'how much'.

d) perhaps in cardinal numeral adverbs above 'five', e. g., makalima or

makalilima 'five times' from lima 'five'; the reduplicated forms probably
meant originally 'five several times', etc.

Full reduplication (3) indicates emphasis, intensiveness or

plurality in the following cases, viz.:

a) the pronoun of the third person plural may take this reduplication, e.
g., silasila, kanikanila, as well as sila, kanila.

b) the plural of interrogative pronouns is made in the same way, e. g.,

sinosino, from sino ' who', alinalin from alin' which ', anoano from ano '
what'

i) intensive active imperatives are formed by prefixing ka to the partially

reduplicated root, e. g., kalalakad 'go quickly '.

j) the same formation as in (i) is used as a passive verbal form in the

sense of 'to have just', e. g., kaaalis niya 'he has just gone' from alis 'go'.

k) the oblique case of the article, sa, followed by a partially reduplicated

noun or root is said to indicate that something has been done which is
displeasing to the speaker, e. g., sa titingin ka 'you kept on looking :' here
the force of the reduplication is probably to emphasize the
incontrovertibility of the statement as in 'you did, you know you did, you
needn't deny it'.

In (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) the reduplication usually denotes plurality, though
at times it intensifies some idea other that number; in (f), (g) it
emphasizes the idea of individuality or number; in (h), (i), (j) it indicates
additional vividness in time relations; in (k) it emphasizes the
incontrovertibility of the statement.

References:

 Frank R. Blake, Reduplication in Tagalog/Source: The American

Journal of Philology , 1917, Vol. 38, No. 4 (1917), pp. 425-
431/Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
 Alfie Vera Mella (2021) Gaya-gaya, Hakahaka, Kilikili/ ISSUE » Vol.
24 No. 16/ POSTED IN » Columnists, Sa Bawat Pahina ng
Literatura
 C. Lopez, Reduplication in Tagalog/In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-,
Land- en Volkenkunde 106 (1950), no: 2, Leiden, 151-312
 Carl Rubino, Reduplication: Form, function and distribution