Indonesian
editIndonesian language employs reduplication similar to Malay and it is a very productive word-forming method. It is also an integral part of day-to-day speech and writings. They are usually separated by a dash and most of them denotes the plural form of that noun, or denotes an action that is done successively. If a reduplication word is added a "ter-" prefix, almost always it becomes an adjective. If a reduplication
A word which contains the same syllable repeated twice but is not separated by a dash (i.e. susu - "milk", pipi - "cheek", gigi - "teeth", kuku - "nail(s)", "dada" - "chest") are usually not considered reduplication since their numbers are very large. Kukuku (my nail) is the only syllable ("ku") which is repeated thrice, and actually a combination of the word kuku (nail) and a suffix "-ku" (my ...). Since reduplicating the word kuku and adding a suffix "-ku" would generate "Kuku-kukuku", there's tendency that the word kuku (as well as gigi and others) could be used to denote singular and plural interchangeably. Thus, one doesn't need to reduplicate these "false reduplication" in order to get their plural forms.
There are many types of reduplication in Indonesian because of the richness of Indonesian affixes and their combinations. Different suffix combinations can result different reduplication meaning. Also, The types of reduplication are:
- From a root word
- Full/exact reduplication (i.e. pukul-pukul - "hitting tools", i.e. hammers)
- The first word gets a prefix (i.e. memukul-mukul - "hitting (continuously)"; root word pukul - "to hit"); rule: me+R = doing something continuously
- The second word gets a prefix (i.e. pukul-memukul - "hitting one another")
- The second word gets a suffix (i.e. pukul-pukulan - "mimicking people hitting one another, mobil-mobilan - "toy car", lebar-lebaran - "competing which one is the widest"); rule: R+an = an imitation of the root word; some kind of mini-competition; plural noun makers. Because of the various meaning, one needs to learn how to differentiate between reduplications like buah-buahan - "toy fruits" and buah-buahan - "some fruits" based on the context.
- The first and the second words get a prefix each (i.e. pemukul-pemukul - "hitters"; root word pe+pukul - "hitter")
- The first and the second words get a suffix each (i.e. pukulan-pukulan - "hits", as in the number of hits received)
- The first word gets a prefix and the second word gets a suffix (i.e.
- Always in its derivation form, either by adding a prefix, suffix, or confix (circumfix) (mostly are adjectives such as tergesa-gesa - "hurriedly", terpingkal-pingkal - "to (laugh) uncontrollably")
- Itself is a root word (i.e. kupu-kupu - "butterflies" and about 20 other animal names)
- (i.e. rempah-rempah - "spices")
- Rhymed reduplication (i.e. tunggang-langgang - "running in fear", cikal-bakal - "the antecedent", porak-poranda - "ruined")
- Ablaut reduplication (i.e. basa-basi - "small talks", "desas-desus" - "hearsays", "kelap-kelip" - "shining")
- Partial reduplication (i.e. bebatuan, tetumbuhan)
The meaning based on the affixes used in the reduplication:
- -an
- ke-
- ter-
- ber-
- se-
Other than noun and verbs, several toponyms in Indonesia also uses reduplication (i.e. Bau-Bau, Muko-Muko, and Pare-Pare) for various historical reason and/or local language background.
id:Daftar kata bahasa Indonesia yang selalu dalam bentuk terulang (in English) Expressing Plurals and Singular Forms in Bahasa Indonesia