Taming the Tautonym

Authors

Dmitri A. Borgmann

Abstract

A Tautonym or reduplication is a word or name consisting of two identical parts, one following the other - a term such as OO, KAKA, ELEELE, RAHURAHU, XIQUE-XIQUE, TANGANTANGAN, OR KANDIRI-KANDIRI. The latter, by the way, is a musical bow of the Balese of the Congo, with the tuning loop but no resonator (Sibyl Marcuse, Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary, Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1964). The term REDUPLICATION is just as redundant as tautonyms give the impression of being, for its meaning adds exactly nothing to that of the simpler word DUPLICATION.

Recommended Citation

Borgmann, Dmitri A. (1986) "Taming the Tautonym," Word Ways: Vol. 19 : Iss. 1 , Article 9.
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol19/iss1/9