Reduplication is a morphological process by which the root or stem of a word, or part of it, is repeated. Examples of reduplication: hoity-toity, Joe Schmoe, hip-hop, chit-chat, and no-no. This list sorts them into the following types: Type I are rhyming pairs, Type II are ablaut pairs (the vowel changes and consonants remain unchanged), and Type III are total reduplications.
I tried to keep this post as pithy as I could for Word Journal, but I would like to mention my favorite kind of (English) reduplicatives: Contrastive focus reduplication. Basically, a total reduplication is used to indicate a special word meaning, as in “Do you like like him?” or “Is she your girl friend or your girlfriend girlfriend?”.
Edit: My research led me to this paragraph. Make it stop:
Three men come into a restaurant: one is from Walla-Walla, one from Pago-Pago, and one from Ryukyu. They order cous-cous, mahi-mahi, and a kiwi salad. They ask the mu-mu clad waitress (who suffers from beri-beri) about the quality of the food. In some versions of this edifying story, she replies, “So-so.“ What else might she have said? (via)
