Reduplication in Persian Language and Literature

The Reduplications are made by repeating part of the base. The repeated part does not make sense and will never be used alone and is just popular in spoken language. In recent times, they have been used in some texts of poetry and prose, in particular, in stories written in vernacular. This research, with a historical approach, and with an analytical-explanatory method, examines the information obtained from literary and historical sources; and while analyzing the use of reduplication in Persian language and literature, it investigates three hypotheses: first, the effect of the changing of the face and meaning of the ancient Persian vocabulary on the formation of reduplication in Persian language; second, the effect of the Arabic syntax on the formation of reduplication in Persian language; and third, the effect of Arabic vocabulary and synonyms on the formation of reduplication in Persian language and literature According to the findings of this research, the history of the use of reduplication dates back to the thirteenth century AH. Most of the compositions, from the first to the thirteenth century AH, are seen in poetic and prose works, and the writers of dictionaries have described them as examples of reduplication but in fact they are synonyms connected by conjunctives which due to a change of face and passage of time are mistakenly claimed to be reduplication. Reduplication has been introduced into Persian language since the thirteenth century AH. This was due to the prevalence of Arabic vocabulary in Persian language and also people’s habits of using synonyms in speaking. Along with developments in Persian prose and the tendency of writers to simplification and vernacularism, these compositions were introduced into Persian texts, especially satirical fictional works.