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19 ago 2011

More Contrastive Focus Reduplication

In the cafeteria in the basement of our building a few days ago, there weren't many offerings, so I heard a girl asking if the student union was open and serving "food food." She said it in a tone of voice that implied she knew she was using it humorously.

Last night at the department gathering I heard someone use one of these in Spanish. Unfortunately, I don't remember what the word was, but it was a native speaker of Spanish. Interestingly, the second element receives emphasis in Spanish and the first in English. So it's "FOOD food" in English but "amor AMOR" in Spanish.

2 comentarios:

  1. That last bit suggests that the stressed instance feels to the speaker like an adjective, the unstressed one like a noun.

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