Reduplication in Kurukh : A Study in Word-formation Processes and Vocabulary Acquisition

Change is the nature of every living language for better communication. These changes can be phonological, morphological, syntactical and lexical, because of various linguistic affects. The synchronic and diachronic study of language proves that it enriches the vocabulary of the language. Another reason for the enrichment of vocabulary is through morphological word formation process which are mainly inflectional, derivational, compounding and reduplication, etc. Reduplication is implicit to phonological (sounds and prosodic units) and morphological (word constituents) components. It occurs in many languages and helps in the formation of new words. The present study concentrates on the process of reduplication Kurukh and the role of reduplication in acquiring vocabulary.


Introduction
Kurukh is a North Dravidian language of the Oraon tribe of East Central India and spoken by approximately two million people 1 .Due to less comparative linguistic research very little has been known about the traditional Dravidian parent speech.But even with few information this can be speculated that Dravidian languages are native to India and also that there are two other Dravidian languages which are spoken outside India, they are, Brahui spoken in Pakistan and Dhangar (a dialect of Kurukh) spoken in Nepal.According to the study made by Bhadriraju Krishnamurty in 1961, he presented altogether a broad and wide range of classification of the Dravidian Languages suggesting the sub categories, which is being done by classifying and defining them as central, south and north dravidian, geographically.He even for the first time suggested the name North Dravidian to an ethnic language group which consists Kurukh 2 , Malto and Brahui, of which Kurukh and Malto are closely related to each other.Further sub categorization of North Dravidian was suggested by Andronov in 1970, where he kept Kurukh and Malto under north eastern and Brahui under North western.Kurukh geographically according to the linguistic space from other Dravidian languages marks its position as autonomous languages in its particular language family where Malto is closely related to it.
Most of the Dravidian languages are from Southern India but Kurukh much before its settlement in Central India, has also migrated through the South of the country which also describes as a nomadic language.Kurukh, Malto and Brahui are to be closely related to each other since these all are North Dravidian languages.These languages call themselves as immigrants as there have been myths about their external origins.Kurukh language traditionally affirmed strongly to be from the Deccan Peninsula, Karnataka to be specific.
The present study observes the morphological process of reduplication in Kurukh language.The process of reduplication occurs in almost all the languages.Reduplication is the repetition of word where either the whole part of the word is repeated or only the constituent part of the word gets repeated.It helps to understand the grammatical function (in inflectional construction) of a word construction.The reduplicated component is known as reduplicant and is abbreviated as RED.
The language has a large number of populations in Chotanagpur plateau.For the present study, the researcher has considered Kurukh language spoken in and around Ranchi.The aim is to observe the types of reduplication found in Kurukh with respect to other major Dravidian languages like Telugu, Tamil and Kannada.On the basis of structure, reduplication is categorized into two parts; lexical and morphological structure.Lexical reduplication is divided further into echo formation, compounds, word reduplication.There are three types of word duplication, they are, complete, partial and discontinuous.Complete reduplication can be class maintaining or class changing.
The researcher studies the types and functions of reduplication.

Dravidian languages are agglutinative
The Dravidian languages form derivatives and compound words and each constituent of the word expresses a single definite meaning.The words in agglutination might have different morphemes to determine their meaning but at the same point each of these morphemes being the stem or the affixes stays unchanged even after their agglutination.
All major and important Dravidian languages are agglutinative in nature for example Kannada, Malyalam, Tamil, Telugu, Tulu etc.In Tamil, the suffixes are added to the root or the stem, it has a free word order and the verb is added towards the end of the sentence.By combining these constituents the words are formed.Similarly in Telugu, the affixation is done at the end of the word majorly to the nominal and verbal roots to make distinctive grammatical word classes, for example, number, case, person and tense.
Agglutination in Kurukh a:ne mukae O woman edpa: nu: in the house In both the examples, a:ne mukae and edpa: nu:, both the components of both the words expresses a single definite meaning.In the process of combining, the building of words from its constituent morphemes retains their form and meaning.

In sentences, the word order will be
Subject + object + verb ɑɖɖɒ: bɑr-ɑ: ləɡɪ (the ox is coming) In Dravidian languages, for a construction of a sentence the word order is SOV, so is it follows in Kurukh as well.Not necessary that belonging to the Dravidian family, the rules underlying the grammar for all the Dravidian languages is same.Each language is unique in its own way.

2.3
The major word classes are Nouns,adjectives,verbs,pronouns,adverbs,onomatopoeia,and interjections. 2.4 In the construction of inflected forms in proto Dravidian languages only suffixation occurs, no infixes and prefixes before or in between the roots or stem, the root and stem are placed in the beginning of the word, which does not happen in Kurukh, suffixes and prefixes are added after and before a root or stem.Infixes do not occur in Kurukh.

2.5
There are two numbers (singular and plural) and four different gender systems, male-non male in the singular and person -non person in plural.The noun in Kurukh include rational and irrational.The plurals of masculine and feminine are found but there are no plurals for the neuter.Kurukh considers the masculine and feminine genders as rational beings and all the other things are devoid of genders.

Reduplication in acquiring vocabulary
Language is complex and to many it seems like a basic instinct.It is the ability of human brain which is demonstrated in attaining the complexities of language.Through the gradual operation process of evolution and cognition, the language patterns of human emerges.
3.1 Reception and production of a language involves equal importance and it involves four basic structural linguistic components in a language.(Hurch et. al.) a. Phonology Every language has its own set of phonemes, it not universal, it varies from language to language.These phonemic segments help to build words.It is easy for children, or has been made easy by their parents or surroundings to recognize the sounds of their native language and produce them gradually to produce meaningful utterances.
b. Semantics It is the system of meaning which is expressed by words, phrases or sentences which ultimately serves as the means of communication between people.It is highly important to pick correct meaning for words which can be strengthened through strong vocabulary.
c. Grammar It is a system of rules upon which the structure of any language is based.The rules underlies in the ordering of words to form meaningful sentences.It demonstrates the structure of a language.

d. Pragmatics
It defines and determines how human can use language in a particular social setting for the communication.

Vocabulary
For language acquisition and language learning, there has been a popular methodology which focuses on first grammar structure and then on vocabulary.Learning vocabulary first can strengthen the learning effectively.The vocabulary base can make learning easy and will also make easier the learning of grammar and structure.
Vocabulary is the key to successful language learning and communication.Strong vocabulary can be a positive learning in many ways, it develops other skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) also, like it helps to build language proficiency, develops the skill of listening, speaking, reading and writing.(Word Dive Blog) With strong vocabulary, one can pick correct word, according to the correct situation to figure out the meaning.This can be understood as: more vocabulary ----------better comprehension --------------good command on language

Reduplication
In some languages, reduplication is a common morphological process in the formation of words.It has received considerable attention for its importance in non European languages.Webster Dictionary defines reduplication as, "an often grammatically functional repetition of a radical element or a part of it occurring usually at the beginning of a word and often accompanied by change of the radical vowel".
Reduplication is a prevalent grammatical construction of world's language.According to Carl Rubino's conducted survey on reduplication, there are 368 of world's languages which bear the feature of reduplication in their language (http://wals.info/feature,October 2015).

Value Representation
Productive full and partial reduplication 278

Total: 368
Reduplication reflects uniqueness and innovation in language, thought and culture.

Types of Reduplication:
Reduplication is mainly classified as total (complete) and partial reduplication.

a. Partial reduplication
In partial reduplication the sub constituent of a word is repeated with sequent phonological modification.

b. Full reduplication
In total reduplication there is full repetition of the root word without any stress or tonal differences.e. Exciting playful activity of learning f.In the acquisition of the vocabulary of languages.

Objective of the study
1.The objective of the present study is to examine the prospect of reduplication to strengthen in attaining the vocabulary of Kurukh language.
2. The study describes reduplication and the importance of vocabulary in language learning and how reduplication acts as a medium to strengthen vocabulary of Kurukh language.
3. The study describes the types of reduplicative method in Kurukh.

Sources for the data
For the present study, the data was collected through various methods.The researcher reached out to the community people residing in urban and rural areas.The data was collected at different domain and in different social and cultural occasions.The researcher used some Kurukh lexicon books and dictionary for the study.The method used for collection of the data was observation and narration.

Methods
The data is being collected from the speakers of the community and stratified on the basis of age, gender, and occupation.The informal interview was conducted in some place in Ranchi (Argora, Kadru) and some nearby places like Mandar, Khunti and Kadge.The main focus of the researcher was to collect the data from all age groups of the community which is to some extent fulfilled but it was difficult to find child speakers of the language.The data is collected using the narration and introduction methods where the participants were given some topics to speak.They were also asked some questions by the researcher related to their home and work domain to which they answered to the same.

Instrument used for the study
HTC phone (816g)

Analysis of the data
The collected data was analysed through out.The speeches of the community speakers were studied and the reduplicated words were marked and later those reduplicated words were analysed further on the basis of the reduplicated types.The grammatical category of those words was established.

Participants
Data has been collected from the speakers of the community living near or in Ranchi.The informal interview was conducted in a college and in families living in and around Ranchi.The above participants belong to Kurukh speaking Oraon community, resided at or near Ranchi.They are of different age, gender and domain.The data has been collected from the above participants in the form of informal interviews and discussions.The discussions and their answers has been recorded and studied for the present study.
a. Participant 1 He is a farmer, who resides near Ranchi.He has been asked questions concerning farming and agriculture.He has been nurtured in the environment where he can fluently speak the language.He is not educated, the time from his birth; he has been exposed to the rustic life which helped him to grasp hold on his language.But due to lack of education, his language proficiency lacks in reading and writing.
b. Participant 2 She is from a village near Ranchi, but lives in Ranchi for her education.She can speak the language but could not develop the habit of writing.
c. Participant 3 She is born and brought up in Ranchi, pursuing her graduation.She can speak Kurukh language but does not have fluency in it.
d. Participant 4, 5 and 6 They are housewives with minimal academic background.They have been asked about their families, education and society.
e. Participant 7 He is a retired serviceman from a village but has been moved to Ranchi for his job.He has been speaking Kurukh all his life and has provided the natural setting for his children to learn Kurukh.
f. Participant 8 He is a church officer, handling all the official matters.He speaks Kurukh, Sadri (lingua franca) and Hindi to communicate.He is a learned person and well versed in the language, he helped the researcher to understand the history of the community and church.

g. Participant 9
He is a bank employee working in Ranchi.As he is not in the practice of speaking Kurukh, so he was facing problem in sentence construction.

h. Participant 10
He is professor in Mandar College, Mandar near Ranchi.He teaches Kurukh language and its grammar to Intermediate and Graduate students.

i. Participant 11
He is an employee, working with Shipping Corporation of India, who was always in a continuous practice with the language, which marks his proficiency in the language.
The data has been studied, where the researcher listed down the reduplicated words used in the utterances of each participant.f. hu t̪ u t̪u t̪ u: a musical instrument more of like a trumpet

Types of Reduplication in
The partial reduplication in Kurukh language occurs mainly with the expressives which is taken as the perception of the senses of the body.For example, in the word, ɡɒ:d̪ ɡɒ:d̪ ɒ:, the constituent of the word which is repeated is ɡɒ:d̪ , with the addition of the vowel.By the repetition the word is emphasizing and suggesting on the roughness of the surface.
In another word, ɡut̪ ɡut̪ ɑ:nɑ: (to tickle), the similar occur in Hindi as ɡu:d̪ gu:d̪ ɑ:nɑ: gives the sense of a feeling of tickling in a continuous process.
The word ɡɒ:r ɡɒ:rɑ:, is a dish which is round and spongy, when the word is uttered, it gives the picture of what is meant.
t̪ ene ne ne gives the sense of audio musicality which can be felt.The word itself is the name of the musical instrument.
In all the languages we see that the partial reduplicative structures are expressive, nouns, adjectives, adverbs.In Kurukh, the first and the last constituents are reduplicated, but in Tamil and Telugu the first constituent part of the word is reduplicated.village (all villages or some countable villages)

Full
In full reduplication the whole part of the word is repeated, the word kɒ:hɑ: means big, when it is uttered in a continuance immediately after the other, it modifies the noun.The same occur in the word lut̪ u: lut̪ u: which is small small.
ɡɔeʤ is a Kharia word which means 'to die' which is a verb.When reduplicated as ɡɔeʤ ɡɔeʤ, the meaning becomes 'dead'.
inʈi: means house in Tamil and inʈi: inʈi: means every house.Ren is a Kannada word meaning person and ren ren means every person.This type of reduplication illustrates the way in which a baby acquires a language.A baby acquires a language by simplifying the main words and construct fragmented sentences with it.For example, bɑ:bɑ: means father, and when a child utter this they produce it as bɑ:bɑ: bɑ:bɑ:.Again in words like, mɑ:mɑ: and d ̪ɑ:d̪ ɑ: which means mother and brother or grandfather respectively, a child utter them in a flow.

Reduplication in baby talk
In another words like bɑ :bɑ : and ʧı :ʧı : which are sounds produce by cow and birds, gives the idea to a child with the picture of the things which produces the sounds and the child starts calling those things and animal with their respective sound production.pust̪ ɑkɑ ɡist̪ ɑkɑ is a Kannada word where the first element men 'book' and together bothe the elements mean 'book and like'.
In all the language of which the examples are cited, the first element of the compound word have a concrete meaning but the other does not have.But in there are also examples where both the component of the compound words have meaning.

Ablaut Reduplication
a. bʰɒ:r u:r morning b.at̪ rɑ: i:t̪ rɑ: here and there c. ʧəuri: ʧəurɑ: a movement during Mahatma Gandhi This type of reduplication is less prolific in the languages, where there is alteration and changing of vowels sounds in the words that nearly rhyme with each other.English, Japanese, Chinese and some other world languages bear this reduplicated form.In Kurukh, ablaut reduplication is found in words like bʰɒ:r u:r, at̪ rɑ: i:t̪ rɑ: and ʧəuri: ʧəurɑ: etc.This type of reduplication is same as the reduplication in baby talk.But this onomatopoeia falls under the expressives of reduplication where it represents the word with the acoustic sounds by which it is produced.For example, human voices, natural voices, animal voices etc.
ɡɑɖɑgɑɖɑ is a Telugu word which means 'quickly'.From above all the examples, it can be stated that the onomatopoeic structures are always expressive and and natural sounds for all stated languages.

Reduplication in name doubling
This form is mainly common in English, Chinese languages, now days it is being witnessed in Hindi language also where this type of reduplication is used for close relationships, to summon.This type also occurs in Kurukh and it depends on the person's use of language in context, where a person summons a particular person by repeating his/her name.
In Kurukh, reduplication occur as expressives, which is use to emote all the senses of perception which are sense of touch, taste, sight, smell and hearing; to express the way of action is performed; to express the manner of a person's feeling.Words are made of acoustics of animal, sounds made by natural phenomenon.For example, f. Kurukh and other Dravidian languages the reduplicated words are expressive, nouns, adjectives.
Whereas 'Vocabulary' on the other hand, is the key to communication and helps in the development of important language skills.It has a direct, positive and useful impact on one's potential to build language proficiency and competence.As quoted by Nation, 'Vocabulary is not an end in itself.A rich vocabulary makes the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing easier to perform.' (1994).A strong vocabulary helps in better comprehension and also in the improvisation of the potentiality to acquire new vocabulary.
Reduplication is a Morphological process of repetition, through which root or stem or part of a word repeats.The radical element is attached to the base at different morphological position.It constructs words, breaks the constituents into meaningful utterances.In Kurukh, reduplication presents a vivid picture of the language, which is helpful in acquiring the vocabulary of the language.The language has shown immense contact with other neighbouring languages, Hindi is one of them.So some Hindi words appear as it is in Kurukh, to which if any reduplication affixation appears, the result is new.Through the process of reduplication, new words can be created, which adds to the Kurukh vocabulary, it forms plurals.These are the factors on which reduplication creates and modifies the words of Kurukh language: 1. it can form reduplicated plurals

Conclusion
Reduplication is the prominent feature in the language.This is altogether a new field in which deliberated heedful exploration is required.Reduplication is implicit to phonological (sounds and prosodic units) and morphological (word constituents) components.It occurs in Kurukh language and helps in the formation of new words.In morphological process, it is used to simplify word structures, and reduces the difficulties in articulation.Reduplication also simplifies the difficulties that occur in the utterance of the target language (in acquiring the vocabulary of Kurukh).Through the process of reduplication, Kurukh has increased its vocabulary and has also in an entertaining way helped to acquire the vocabulary of the language.Vowel insertion and vowel alteration also plays an important role in Kurukh Language.For example, the vowel /ɑ/ is inserted at the last of the word to get the reduplicated form kɪlkɪlɑ, ɡulɡulɑ:, ɡɒrɡɒrɑ:, xɑʈxɑʈɑ: and, ɑst̪ ɑ: ɪst̪ ɑ:, /ɑ/ is altered by /ɪ/ in the word.
With all these constructions and alterations of words, each time there is an addition to the Kurukh vocabulary.Kurukh is immensely influenced with Hindi words, which are visible in some of the reduplicated forms, for example in the reduplicated word like kʰɑʈ kʰɑʈ which is a Hindi word meaning 'knocking' which is imbibed in Kurukh language vocabulary.The language also bears the universal acoustics of animal voices, natural phenomena and expressions, also has given the semantic class to those reduplicated words.Reduplication is a morphological process, in Kurukh, after affixation to the root word; the final product can be a plural, the synonym, the antonym etc. which are placed in parallel and at point of intersection.
The reduplicated forms in Kurukh are usually common nouns, proper nouns, countable-uncountable nouns etc and ifnɑ: is affixed at the last of any stem it becomes a verbal reduplicated form, for example /ɡut̪ ɡut̪ ɑ:nɑ:/ and /xɑr xɑrnɑ:/.Full, partial, ablaut and rhyming reduplicated forms are visible in major word classes in Kurukh language for example there are nominal, verbal, adverbial, adjectival reduplicated forms.In baby talk reduplication the words usually ends with ɑ: and i: and the words are mostly disyllabic reduplication and if it's a repetition then it might go to tri syllabic and tetra syllabic words.Most of the reduplicated words in Kurukh are the name of a musical instrument, name of birds and are expressives, all of them are associated with rhythm and acoustics which gives a sense of musicality.b.In Kurukh the main reduplicated forms are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
In Kurukh, for rhyming reduplication the first segment of the word rhymes with the other where either of the segments has or has not any meaning.It is just the rhyming of the word to emphasize on the word.The same follows with the Ablaut reduplication and reduplication in onomatopoeia.In name doubling reduplicated form the name is repeated to lay the emphasis and the major word class is nouns.
Reduplication is an essential morphological construction in Kurukh language.It is the partial or full repetition of a lexical item which carries a minimal semantic alteration.The community speakers use reduplication in their daily lives, the words are expressives, name doubling, full partial etc reduplicated forms.In Oraon community the speakers emote their expressions through reduplication.This work traces the reduplication methods which are found in Kurukh and commonly used by the Kurukh speakers.
c. Reduplication in baby talk Simplifying words as baby acquires language d.Rhyming reduplication Rhyming of the two or more different words with nearly duplicate sounds e. Ablaut reduplication It is the changing of vowels in another rhyming word. of Reduplication.(Kauffman.n.d.) a.It helps in forming plurals b.It changes the tenses, simply by repeating the constituent to suggest the tense of the word.c.It modifies, enhances, intensifies the word d.Specifies the ambiguity of situations.

7. 4
Rhyming Reduplication a. hi:siŋɑ: pɒ:ʈɒ :ŋɑ: jealous b. nɑlnu:m pɑ:ɖnu:m dancing singing c. ʤɑit̪ pɑ ĩt̪ caste d. hɒɑ: ʧɪɑ: to allow to take e. ɑrkɑ: pʰɑrkɑ: the difference or distinction between anythingThe words in rhyming reduplication occur simultaneously with each other to give a rhyming pattern in a sentence.The words hi:siŋɑ: pɒ:ʈɒ :ŋɑ:, nɑlnu:m pɑ:ɖnu:m and ʤɑit̪ pɑ ĩt̪ rhyme with each other and suggests the related meaning in the sentences.pillɑ:ʤel-lɑ: is a Telugu word meaning 'children', ɖɑbbu: ɡibbu: is also a Telugu word where the first constituent means 'money' and both the component together means as 'money and like'.
full reduplication on the basis of its function can be divided into: things which are noticeable: a. the reduplication helps in Kurukh to express the feeling and acoustics of all types b. the full reduplication are sometimes class changing and class maintaining c. in Kurukh and all the languages that were taken compound words are formed by reduplication method.d. in full reduplication, all the languages including Kurukh, have the same structure, where the entire part is repeated, sometimes it is class changing and sometimes it is class maintaining.e. in partial reduplication, Kurukh's the base is repeated in the beginning or at the last of the word, but the construction of other Dravidian languages vary.

8. 1
In partial reduplication a.The partial reduplication in Kurukh occur mainly with the expressives b.These expressives are the perception of the senses of the body c.The partial reduplicated forms are mainly nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.8.2 In full reduplication a.The full reduplicated forms are expressives b.In this the grammatical class of the words is maintained in process of being reduplicated.c.The major reduplicated forms are nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives 8.3 In baby talk a.In baby talk type of reduplication the main word gets simplified by constructing the fragmented utterances which helps in acquiring the language.

Table 1 .
List of participants stratified on the basis of their age, gender and occupation