What is the difference between onomatopoeia and reduplication?

Phonetics And Word Formation Questions Medium



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What is the difference between onomatopoeia and reduplication?

Onomatopoeia and reduplication are both linguistic phenomena related to the formation of words, but they differ in their mechanisms and purposes.

Onomatopoeia refers to the formation of words that imitate or mimic the sounds they represent. In other words, the sound of the word itself resembles the sound it describes. For example, words like "buzz," "hiss," or "meow" are onomatopoeic because they imitate the sounds of a bee, a snake, and a cat respectively. Onomatopoeia is commonly used in various languages to create words that evoke specific sounds, often found in animal noises, natural sounds, or mechanical sounds.

On the other hand, reduplication involves the repetition of all or part of a word to create a new word or to modify its meaning. Reduplication can occur in different ways, such as repeating the entire word (total reduplication) or repeating only a portion of it (partial reduplication). This process is used to indicate various grammatical or semantic functions, such as plurality, intensification, or repetition. For instance, in English, we have words like "bye-bye," "tick-tock," or "flip-flop," where reduplication is used to create words with repetitive or rhyming sounds.

In summary, the main difference between onomatopoeia and reduplication lies in their purposes and mechanisms. Onomatopoeia focuses on imitating sounds through the formation of words, while reduplication involves the repetition of all or part of a word to create new words or modify their meanings.