Learn about word reduplication in Indonesian
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What is word reduplication in Indonesian? |
| Blanca: And what is its function? |
| Michael: At IndonesianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Cantika and her daughter are on the bus. Cantika notices something interesting and says to her daughter, |
| "Look, rabbits!" |
| Cantika Chaniago: Lihat, kelinci-kelinci! |
| Dialogue |
| Cantika Chaniago: Lihat, kelinci-kelinci! |
| Nia Chaniago: Di alang-alang! |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Cantika Chaniago: Lihat, kelinci-kelinci! |
| Michael: "Look, rabbits!" |
| Nia Chaniago: Di alang-alang! |
| Michael: "In the tall grass!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Reduplication is defined as the repetition of a syllable, a morpheme, or a word as a means of creating a new word. It exists in almost all languages, including Indonesian. In English, reduplication rarely occurs, and it is primarily used in words that reflect noises or sounds, such as “tick tock” and “click clack.” In Indonesian, reduplication, or |
| Blanca: reduplikasi |
| Michael: has multiple functions and is very common. First, let’s see how to form reduplicative words. There are four types of reduplication: full, by affixes, partial, and phonological. Let’s discuss full reduplication first, or, |
| Blanca: reduplikasi penuh |
| Michael: This type of reduplication involves repeating the same exact word. For instance, we have the word, |
| Blanca: cangkir-cangkir |
| Michael: which means “cups,” and is a reduplication of |
| Blanca: cangkir |
| Michael: the word usually used to indicate one cup. Another example would be, |
| Blanca: piring-piring |
| Michael: which means “dishes.” Here is a sample sentence using both words: |
| Blanca: Tolong cuci cangkir-cangkir yang kotor. Ah, piring-piring juga ya. |
| Michael: which means “Please wash the dirty cups. Ah, why not the dishes as well.” |
| Next, let’s talk about reduplication by affixes, or, |
| Blanca: reduplikasi berimbuhan. |
| Michael: This reduplication happens when the duplicated word is modified by affixes. For example, |
| Blanca: terang-benderang |
| Michael: which means “very bright,” and is a reduplication of |
| Blanca: terang |
| Michael: which means “bright.” |
| Next, let’s talk about partial reduplication, or, |
| Blanca: reduplikasi parsial |
| Michael: This type of reduplication is only applicable to root words that begin with consonants. Reduplication happens by adding the first letter of the word to the root word followed by “e”. In some cases, the resulting words will be similar in meaning to the root word, although this only happens in some parts of speech, particularly nouns. Here’s an example, |
| Blanca: tetangga |
| Michael: This word means “neighbor.” It’s the reduplication of the word, |
| Blanca: tangga |
| Michael: which means “ladder” or “stairs.” As you can see, to achieve the reduplication, the first letter of the root word, which is “t” was attached to an “e” before being attached to the root word. Here’s another example: |
| Blanca: leluhur |
| Michael: This word means “ancestor,” and is a reduplication of the word, |
| Blanca: luhur |
| Michael: which means “noble.” |
| Last is phonological reduplication or |
| Blanca: reduplikasi berubah bunyi |
| Michael: This type of reduplication involves a change in a letter of the root word, whether it is a vowel or a consonant. The repeated word will then be attached to the root word with a hyphen. The aim of this reduplication is not to create a new word, but mainly to emphasize the root word. Here’s an example: |
| Blanca: ramah-tamah |
| Michael: This means “hospitable,” and is the reduplication of the word, |
| Blanca: ramah |
| Michael: which means “friendly.” Here, we see that the reduplication takes the meaning of the word “friendly” to another level, which is “hospitable.” Another example would be, |
| Blanca: kaya-raya |
| Michael: meaning “very wealthy.” It’s the reduplication of the word, |
| Blanca: kaya |
| Michael: which means “rich.” |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a closer look at the dialogue, where we saw two cases of full reduplication, which happens when a word is repeated twice in a row. |
| Do you remember how Cantika says "Look, rabbits!" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Blanca as Cantika Chaniago: Lihat, kelinci-kelinci! |
| Michael: The word, |
| Blanca: kelinci-kelinci |
| Michael: is a reduplication of the word, |
| Blanca: kelinci |
| Michael: which means “rabbit.” One characteristic of full reduplication is that it’s done to indicate plurality in some nouns. In this case, the word, |
| Blanca: kelinci-kelinci |
| Michael: is simply the plural form of “rabbit.” Another example would be |
| Blanca: rumah-rumah |
| Michael: which means “houses,” the plural form of “house,” or, |
| Blanca: rumah |
| Michael: Yet another example would be the word |
| Blanca: anak-anak |
| Michael: or “children,” which is a reduplication of the word, |
| Blanca: anak |
| Michael: meaning “child.” |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a look at the second sentence from the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Cantika’s kid says "In the tall grass!" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Blanca as Nia Chaniago: Di alang-alang! |
| Michael: There are certain words in Indonesian that, even if reduplicated, are considered as root bases. One of these is the word |
| Blanca: alang-alang |
| Michael: which refers to “tall grasses” or “reeds.” A similar word would be, |
| Blanca: kupu-kupu |
| Michael: or “butterfly.” The Indonesian word for “gift” would be another one: |
| Blanca: oleh-oleh |
| Michael: This rule is applicable mostly to nouns that are names of animals, plants, instruments, or food. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: So far you learned that reduplication, or |
| Blanca: reduplikasi, |
| Michael: is the repetition of a syllable, a morpheme, or a word as a means of creating a new word or simply putting an emphasis on the root word. You also learned that reduplicative words are a huge part of the Indoensian language and may fall into four types, which are full, partial, by affixes, and phonological reduplication. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Now, let’s see what the most common meanings conveyed by reduplication are. We already saw how, in Indonesian, reduplication can indicate the plurality of a noun or simply give emphasis to the root word. In addition to these, there are other functions you need to be aware of. For instance, reduplication of “verbs,” or, |
| Blanca: kata kerja |
| Michael: is done mainly to indicate that an action is being done in a leisurely manner. Let’s take a look at this word as an example: |
| Blanca: keliling-keliling |
| Michael: This is the reduplication of the word, |
| Blanca: keliling |
| Michael: which means “around.” However, the reduplication doesn’t necessarily mean “around around.” When put into context, it could mean “taking a stroll” or “sightseeing,” such as in this sentence: |
| Blanca: Kami keliling-keliling di pasar basah. |
| Michael: “We are just going around the wet market.” Reduplication of verbs could also indicate repetitive or continuous action, such as in this sentence: |
| Blanca: Kayu itu terapung-apung di sungai. |
| Michael: “The wood floated in the river.” The reduplicated verb here is |
| Blanca: terapung-apung |
| Michael: which indicates a continuous action, such as floating on a running river. Reduplication of verbs could also convey intensity. For instance, we have the verb, |
| Blanca: menjadi |
| Michael: or “to become.” When reduplicated, it indicates an action that is getting out of hand, such as in this sentence: |
| Blanca: Kelakuannya menjadi-jadi. |
| Michael: “His behavior is getting worse.” In some cases, reduplicating an adjective results in an adverb. For instance, when you reduplicate the adjective, |
| Blanca: diam |
| Michael: or “quiet,” it becomes |
| Blanca: diam-diam |
| Michael: or “quietly,” which is an adverb. Sometimes, an adjective is reduplicated to emphasize intensity, such as in the word, |
| Blanca: mahal-mahal |
| Michael: or “very expensive.” It’s derived from the adjective |
| Blanca: mahal |
| Michael: which means “expensive.” |
| Language Tip |
| Michael: Did you know that you can form adverbs by reduplicating numbers in Indonesian? For instance, by reduplicating the number, |
| Blanca: satu |
| Michael: or “one,” you get |
| Blanca: satu-satu |
| Michael: or “one by one.” |
| Blanca: Bicaralah satu-satu. |
| Michael: “Speak one at a time.” And here’s one for the number two: |
| Blanca: Mereka masuk dua-dua. |
| Michael: “They came in two at a time.” |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Blanca: Dadah. |
Comments
Hide