Reduplication for Emphasis

A woman from Dallas wants to know about a verbal habit she grew up with in her Cajun French speaking Louisiana family. It’s use of repetition for emphasis, as in, “it’s hot, but it’s not hot hot.” Grant explains how reduplications, or a repetition of a word or part of a word, appear in many languages, including Cajun French. For more, check out Albert Valdman’s French and Creole in Louisiana, and Mary Ellen Scullen’s paper “New Insights Into French Reduplication“. This is part of a complete episode.