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From: olivier@austin.ibm.com (Olivier Cremel)
Subject: Re: duplication?
Originator: olivier@nice.austin.ibm.com
Sender: news@austin.ibm.com (News id)
Message-ID: <D4u58G.5sop@austin.ibm.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 23:00:16 GMT
Reply-To: olivier@glasnost.austin.ibm.com
References:  <3j4pjn$ct@amhux3.amherst.edu>
Organization: Bull HN - Austin
Lines: 26


In article <3j4pjn$ct@amhux3.amherst.edu>, damastro@unix.amherst.edu (David A. Mastroianni) writes:
(...)
> 	Anyway, I was interested by the concept of duplication.  It seems
> to me that it must be a factor in many African and Polynesian languages,
> just from my casual contact with them.  It's interesting, doubling a word to
> refer to something...well, related to the original word but somehow...
> "higher" than it, I guess, in a sort of mystical sense.  But then, I'm
> generalizing from this one instance of duplication.
> 	This does not see, like something that would work in English.
> English likes compound words, but duplication I think would sound kind
> of like baby-talk.  Would that go for related languages?
(...)

Not compounds, but the French equivalent :

La creme de la creme
La fleur de la fleur
L'essence de l'essence
Le saint des saints

It's meanly used as a superlative.
-- 
Olivier.
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		"Tel se cuide chauffer qui s'art"
