Reduplication in Nepali

[Warning: The following post is chock full of dorky half-baked linguistic musings. It is probably boring and inaccurate but analyzes words like ukasmukas and waakwaak. Reduplication is a process in many languages whereby all or part of the root of a word is repeated.]

The Uses of Reduplication in Nepali (that I have found so far):


1) Onomatopoeia (which maybe doesn't count as reduplication technically?)

     waakwaak     -     vomit
     bhokbhok      -      simmering boil (with water)
     gurangguDung -  thunder
     sururururur   -     the sound of a babbling river  


2) Intensity


        u    chiTTo     uDyo
        It   quickly    flew
        (It flew quickly.)


        u     chiTTo     chiTTo     uDyo
        It    quickly     quickly    flew
       (It flew very quickly.)


3) Number


     tapaaílaai     ke     chhahinchha?
     To-you       what     is-needed
     (What do you need?) - what single thing


     tapaaílaai     ke     ke     chhahinchha?
     To-you      what   what   is-needed
     (What do you need?) -  what multiple things


4) Conversational
  
     malaai     tarkaari-sarkaari     dinus
     to-me    vegetable-"segetable"   give
     (Give me vegetable-segetables!)

This form appears similar to the English partial reduplication in "taxes, schmaxes!" but the meaning is more subtle. My Nepali teacher told me it just makes the sentence sound better. I originally encountered it in a Nepali reader that contained stories and biographies, so it might be a device used in story-telling. I need to learn more.



5) Miscellaneous Grammatical

     ustai               -     the same
     ustai ustai      -     similar

I would expect ustai ustai to mean 'exactly the same.' But reduplication appears to have the opposite effect in this case. Is it de-emphasis?

     ko                -          when
     kohi kohi     -          someone

     ke                -          what
     kehi kehi   -             some(things)

     kahile          -          when
     kahile káhi   -          sometimes

There is a whole paradigm for deriving "some-X" from the question words that involves full or partial reduplication. Maybe plurality is an inherent part of that concept?



6) Mysteries

     chijbij            -         things
     rangichangi  -        colorful        
     lugbug          -          approximately
     jhillimilli       -          sparkly

     ukasmukas   -          completely full

     chukchuk      -          fidgety

These are some of my favorite words in the Nepali language. They often seem like they are partially reduplicated, but the only one that seems certain is rangichangi because the word rang means 'color.' Unfortunately I have found no other nouns that can become adjectives in this way. Which is a shame, because it would be a great process. I think we should use it in English. Instead of saying something is "wonderful" we should say that it is "wonderychundery."