Lexico-grammatical characteristics and features
of the functioning of reduplicated nouns in modern Russian

In the section Linguistics
Lexico-grammatical characteristics and features
of the functioning of reduplicated nouns in modern Russian
Авторы (текстом)
Irina P. Matkhanova , Lyudmila N. Khramtsova
Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Ключевые слова
functions of reduplicated nouns, comparison, lexico-grammatical categories and thematic groups, prototype
Abstract

Reduplicated nouns such as krasota-krasota, mama-mama, and others, have been widely used
in modern colloquial speech and attracted the interest of Russian and foreign linguists. This
paper identifies how the functioning of these words depends on their relation to the lexico-
grammatical classes and thematic groups. The characteristics underlying the peculiar seman-
tics of all reduplicated nouns are specified: the comparison of several objects, with one of
them fully expressing an individual / general image of a phenomenon; the substantive nature
involving more than one feature in the word meaning. The classification is based on several
criteria, the main one being the attributability to personal nouns (muzh-muzh, podruga-
podruga) or impersonal nouns (veter-veter, derevnya-derevnya). For impersonal reduplicated
nouns, the essential characteristics are their correlation with adjectives or their belonging to
material, abstract, or concrete nouns or thematic groups (celebrations, seasons, clothes). These
characteristics determine the following functions: the intensification of one characteristic, the
combination of a greater intensification and a subject’s image of the best model, a complete
correspondence to an individual / common image of a phenomenon, a high emotional evalua-
tion, and others. The range of functions of personal reduplicated nouns is highly varied, de-
pending not only on their belonging to a particular group (nominations based on gender and
age, family and interpersonal relations, kind of activity) but also on extralinguistic factors,
semantic peculiarities of a basic noun, and others. Reduplication can change a hierarchy of
semes in the structure of a lexical meaning, actualizing the role of peripheral and implicit
semes.

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Bibliographic reference
Irina P. Matkhanova , Lyudmila N. Khramtsova Lexico-grammatical characteristics and features
of the functioning of reduplicated nouns in modern Russian
// Сибирский филологический журнал. 2023. № 1. Pp. 272–285. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/82/20.