Hadar Shemesh explains how repeating a word with higher stress changes its meaning in English. Like becomes like-like, chocolate becomes chocolate chocolate, and hate becomes hate hate. The second word narrows or intensifies what you're saying, a pattern called lexical cloning that non-native speakers often miss.
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Wait a minute. You like him or you like, like him? Excuse me. Is this vegan chocolate or is this chocolate chocolate? Mom, I'm up. I'm just not up, up. Let me get my coffee and I'll call you back, okay? Gosh. What is this thing where we take one word and we reduplicate it? Does it change the meaning of the sentence or the meaning of the word? Well, sort of. This thing is called lexical cloning or reduplication. And it happens when a single word may have a broader meaning than the initial original meaning of the word. For example, the word like, I like you as my friend. I like eating ice cream. I hit like on Facebook or on this video. And that is the meaning of like. But like can also mean to have a crush on someone or to be slightly in love with someone. Right? So when I say like like, I indicate that I mean the narrow, specific definition of the word. Another example that I used is chocolate. Chocolate. Right. Chocolate. Chocolate is the real chocolate as we all know it. Milk chocolate. Right? Right. Not bittersweet, not almond chocolate, and not vegan chocolate. So I was comparing vegan chocolate versus chocolate chocolate, which is the real basic definition of the word chocolate? When I use lexical cloning or reduplication, I put the stress on the first word, and I say it significantly higher in pitch. I mean, higher in pitch. Higher in pitch, not just like slightly higher in pitch. I used it as well with up. Up. Right. I'm up. I'm just not up. Up. That means I'm up. I'm physically up, but mentally I'm still asleep. That's why I need to get my coffee. So I'm up. I'm just not up. Up. Okay. And notice how I go higher in pitch. Let's try together. Up. Up. To say it higher in pitch means to use a higher note than the node that you regularly use. Up. Up. Chocolate. Chocolate. Like. Like. Now, it's a lot of fun, and you may have it in your native language as well. If you do, let us know in the comments below. Now, the reason why I want to share this phenomenon with you is because it's really cool and fun, and it helps you understand the nuances of a conversation better, especially if English is not your native language. But also, I want you to see if you have it in your native language. And if you do, you do. You stress both words as we do stress them in English. Let's look at a few more examples. And when I say these examples, try to think what it means when I use this reduplication. Okay, let's try it out. So are you friends friends, or are you nice to see you again kind of friends? Or I can also say, are you friends friends or are you Facebook friends? Which means not really friends and close friends. Right. So I can actually ask you if you can ask him to do me a favor. Let's look at another example. Yeah, I talked to her last week, but I didn't talk to her talk to her. So I had no idea what was going on. So when I say it like that, it means that, yeah, I talked to her, meaning I only exchanged with her a few words. I didn't talk to her talk to her. So I didn't have the opportunity of going deep in the conversation and to ask her what was really going on. Right, right. So to talk to someone has several different meanings. And when I double it up, when I duplicate it, it means that I mean this term in the most specific enhanced, intense way possible. Okay, I talked to her, but I didn't talk to her talk to her. Another example, Gosh, I hate her sometimes. I mean, I don't hate her hate her. It's just that she can be so annoying. I'm using the word hate loosely when I say it once in comparison to when I use it twice, which is not what I mean. I don't hate her hate her. It's not like deep, despicable feelings. It's just that it's a way to say that I'm unhappy with how she's behaving. I mean, it's going to be a pretty casual event. I mean, not casual casual, but let's just say you don't have to put on the dress you bought for your brother's wedding. So in this case, I compare casual casual, which probably means shorts and sneakers, versus casual casual in relation to maybe what we had expected first for it to be a black tie event. And it's not. So we can be. We can wear something a little more casual, but not casual casual, not super casual, slightly casual casual, er, more casual. Okay, that's it. But now that's it. That's it. Because I want you to write down in the comments below one example, using lexicon, cloning or reduplication, you can also say the word reduplication five times in a row. That's a great tongue twister. I can't wait to read all your comments. And if you like this video, click like and share it with your friends. And I mean share it, share it with your friends. Have a beautiful week, and I will see you next week in the next video. Bye.
