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I have come across several times reading Chinese that they repeat words twice and then again.

For an Instance what is the difference between 热闹　and 热热闹闹　？

what is the grammar meaning when words get multiplied in that manner？

Nulle
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    热闹 is an adjective, therefore its duplicated form is AABB->热热闹闹, which seems relatively common (jukuu: １２ example sentences), 一下 is used after a verb, therefore 热热闹闹一下 seems questionable,the most common duplication of AB verbs is ABAB, but 坐看 seems to be 2 verbs (sit and look) therefore 坐坐看看 seems possible, followed by 一下 therefore seems possible – user6065 Dec 14 '15 at 07:25
  • What does 热热闹闹 mean then? – Nulle Dec 14 '15 at 08:17
  • e.g. bustling, see iciba, jukuu, etc. – user6065 Dec 14 '15 at 09:29
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    I can't tell the exact grammar but all you examples sound unnatural. – Stan Dec 14 '15 at 10:04
  • 我看看一下 is weird, you could say 我看一下 or 我看看. Same for 我坐坐一下. 我坐坐看看一下 is weird, 坐 and 看 couldn't be used together like this. 我热热闹闹一下 is weird, you could say 我热闹热闹 or 我热闹一下...Hmm...Better to say 我们热闹一下 or 我们热闹热闹. –  Dec 14 '15 at 10:38
  • i find it hard to believe that 热闹 and 热热闹闹 has the same meaning？　and if you want me to check iciba jukuu then you have to elaborate what that is exactly. – Nulle Dec 14 '15 at 10:48
  • I have just updated my question removing the bad examples. – Nulle Dec 14 '15 at 10:52
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    Not a duplicate question, but there's a pretty comprehensive answer here which details many ways that repeating characters affects the meaning of the words. – congusbongus Dec 18 '15 at 03:26
  • correction of comment ＃１，热闹 is both an adjective and a verb (in fact a controllable verb (自主动词), therefore 热闹一下 is possible as pointed in comment #5） cf。e.g.＂汉语水平考试词典＂热闹（动）使气氛活跃，往往开展各种有趣的集体活动（liven up; have a jolly time):马上就是新年了，我们一起～一下吧，咱们也～～！ – user6065 Dec 21 '15 at 10:16
  • generally，it means that a action keep a long time，it is a status，not behavior. and possibly converts verb to adj – Daniel Yang Jan 15 '16 at 00:01

3 Answers3

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As a native Chinese speaker, I've never learned the AABB "grammar rule" from book. This means it's never considered as a kind of grammar rule at least in my student age.

But I don't agree with @gcd0318. There is difference between AB and AABB. In Chinese, repeating usually means emphasize the AB word, or to make the sentence sounds good to phonology.

e.g. 勤恳（diligent and conscientious） vs. 勤勤恳恳 Although they have the same mean, but use 勤勤恳恳 always make the audience feel that the speaker is highly applaud one's diligent and conscientious. Use 勤恳 doesn't have the strong emotional feeling.

Back to your example, 热热闹闹, it's the same as usage of 勤勤恳恳. It emphasize how bustling it is.

And see this great answer for usage of repeating words in Chinese.

Community
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thinwa
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  • XY/XXYY(/XYXY) has nothing different on meaning. emphasizing or not has nothing to do with meaning either. but sometimes XYXY may be used as predicate, which is the BIGGEST different, but you missed this point – gcd0318 Dec 22 '15 at 02:56
  • Nobody says they have different meaning, I was trying to tell the difference between repeating and nonrepeating. Repeating do express the strong feeling of the speaker or writer. In China, even a child knows to use the trick to express emotion. e.g. "妙妙，你今天玩得开心吗？", "非常非常非常非常不开心！". The more repeating 非常, the stronger feeling she wants to express. – thinwa Dec 22 '15 at 08:12
  • please read the question before answering. "what is the grammar meaning when words get multiplied in that manner" - this is the question, which is asking grammar and meaning difference, but not emphasizing differences. you are not answering to the question but talking trash – gcd0318 Dec 23 '15 at 04:36
  • "What is the grammar meaning" means "这种语法的意义", this is my understanding, I think he was not asking for meaning of repeated words but the meaning of the usage(grammar). – thinwa Dec 23 '15 at 08:06
  • AGAIN, emphasizing is not a grammar or meaning problem, and usage is not always referring to grammar – gcd0318 Dec 23 '15 at 08:58
  • lol. Funny, are you trying to teach English here? Please focus on the question of OP. If you think my understanding regarding the question is wrong, how about write your understanding down ? There are many native English speakers here, they can judge. – thinwa Dec 25 '15 at 08:14
  • Back to your example, 热热闹闹, it's the same as usage of 勤勤恳恳. It emphasize how bustling it is. how bustling is it then? what is the difference between 热闹 and 热热闹闹 from your point of view? – Nulle Jan 03 '16 at 11:29
  • Well, I don't know "how bustling is it", since it's feeling of the writer. All I can tell is that repeating characters/words in Chinese usually emphasize the meaning of the single character/word. – thinwa Jan 04 '16 at 03:46
  • I'm not teaching you English, but teaching how to act as an educated human being. If This were all you can tell. After all, the question is about "grammar meaning", but not emphasizing or something. If you have nothing to share about "grammar meaning", just stop talking trash.

    As adj./adv., XXYY/XYXY has grammar different after all. But XXYY/XYXY could be used as (just AS, but they are not verb. Chinese, natively, has no concept of part of speech) verb, with different meaning. Meanwhile XY sometimes has no such usage.

     – gcd0318 Mar 08 '16 at 03:00
  • What an educated human being you are! :D – thinwa Mar 09 '16 at 03:43
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    Please keep your comments polite and relevant to the question and answer. For a longer discussion, use the chat area. – Don Kirkby Mar 09 '16 at 04:39
  • @user2550062 Don't remove your answer's content. They still have their value. :) –  Mar 15 '16 at 07:20
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I do believe there is a differential meaning in multiplied words. One important meaning is that to repeat a word or phrase in the AABB manner is to impose a fictive duration upon AB. For example, we can speak 热闹一下，but not *热热闹闹一下 because 热热闹闹 denotes a duration reading that is incompatible with the perfect meaning expressed by '一下'.

Shudong
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XXYY (sometimes XYXY) has nothing special comparing to XY, just an oral style. But not all adj. or adv. have such usage

gcd0318
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  • so there is no meaning differnece between 热闹 and 热热闹闹 ？both simply means Bustling? – Nulle Dec 14 '15 at 11:52
  • iciba/爱词霸，jukuu／句库就是线上词典。关于动词重叠的附加意义 cf."外国人实用汉语语法＂（１）表示动作经历的时间短（２）表示尝试（３）表示轻松。 – user6065 Dec 14 '15 at 15:19
  • 坐看 is not in 现代汉语词典 but it is in e.g. iciba，bkrs (look on with indifference, watch from the sidelines),duplicated form apparently still according to AABB, similar to 说笑、打闹、游逛、拖拉，推搡、拍打、来往、比划(which are in 现代汉语词典)、cf。＂实用现代汉语语法＂：有时意义相关的两个词也可以这样用，如＂嘻嘻哈哈＂、＂蹦蹦跳跳＂、＂吹吹拍拍＂、＂磕磕拌拌＂、＂进进出出＂等。动词这样用时，形式与功能都很像形容词。 – user6065 Dec 14 '15 at 17:16
  • It seems hard to find any example of duplicated verb followed by 一下，jukuu 句酷 （not 句库）has none among its 100 examples for 一下，anyhow verb duplication and 一下 following verb have similar meanings，the closest web search results to VV一下 might be 看看欣賞一下，看看 分享一下 – user6065 Dec 14 '15 at 18:53
  • ＂外国人实用汉语语法＂（verbal measure words,动量词）：＂下儿＂前边用＂一＂，表示动作经历的时间短，作用和动词重叠一样。（一下儿 functions as verbal reduplication) ＂实用现代汉语语法＂动量词 ［下］＂下＂表示动作进行的次数，一般用于短时间的动作。如＂老李拍了小刘一下＂、＂他敲了桌子一下＂。＂一下＂用在动词后还有缓和语气的作用，不表示动作的次数。如＂你来一下＂、＂喂，你给我找一下小李＂、＂你详细介绍一下事情的经过＂。上面的句子比＂你来＂、＂喂，你给我找小李＂、＂你详细介绍事情的经过＂语气要委婉得多。 – user6065 Dec 14 '15 at 22:55
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    I don't think Chinese, natively, has meaning of part of speech like English. In traditional learning of Chinese, there was no study about grammar, which started in no earlier than Tang Dynasty. The modern grammar theory of Chinese is only for foreigners to learn, but natives never care about that. So you may feel Chinese has many grammar rules, and even more exceptions of each rule. In Chinese a noun may take the place of adj., or even verb. That's not multiple parts of speech, but just because Chinese never have concept of part of speech, which should be from western linguistic – gcd0318 Dec 15 '15 at 04:22
  • I don't know what you are trying to tell me user6065 but I am surely a mile behind you. – Nulle Dec 15 '15 at 13:44
  • ＠Nulle previous comments contain excerpts from 2 textbooks to the effect that verb reduplication and "verb + 一下" perform mostly the same function, therefore "verb reduplication + 一下" seems redundant，which may be one reason it is hard to find examples of "verb reduplication + 一下"。 – user6065 Dec 15 '15 at 15:46
  • It seems nonnative speakers are included among the users of this site. Some of these users may feel that grammar may be a valid topic.Quote from the preface of ＂现代汉语实用语法＂：本书主要是为从事汉语作为第二语言教学的教师以及具备了一定的汉语基本的外国学生和学者编写的。它也可以作为国内民族院校的少数民族学生以及其他高等院校汉语和外语专业的学生学习现代汉语语法的参考书。 – user6065 Dec 15 '15 at 17:31
  • regarding differences between the 2 patterns, verb reduplication and "verb + 一下" see e.g. (1)试论动词重叠“VV”式与动词“V一下”式的差异 and (2)“VV”格式与“V一下”格式的比较.pdf48页 It seems even "实用现代汉语语法＂（１００６页）does not consider the differences (cf.(1)"关于这两种语法形式 的差别，以往的语法论著较少涉及")。 – user6065 Dec 16 '15 at 02:11
  • one example of "VV一下" finally found: （１）http://blog.xuite.net/lifelover/lifelover/15012413-%E5%81%B6%E7%88%BE..++%E6%95%B2%E6%95%B2%E6%89%93%E6%89%93%E4%B8%80%E4%B8%8B.... has headline: 偶爾.. 敲敲打打一下....,however the text itself only has 敲敲打打一番, （２）试试一下、试试试试一下 also exist on the web. It seems that redundancy does not mean combining both constructions is not allowed, (as another example ＂能＂can be combined with potential complements, "能找得到" exists, combining 能找到 with 找得到) – user6065 Dec 17 '15 at 00:10
  • existing doesn't mean it's correct, it could be typo or wrong usage as well. I think all of your examples are weird to native Chinese speaker. – thinwa Dec 17 '15 at 09:23
  • regarding all 3 examples: searching jukuu for "能找得到" yields as its 1st 4 results 4 sentences all of which include this exact sequence, searching web yields more such: （１）baidu:能找得到这样的老婆吗？（２）百度什么都能找得到吗 （３）時尚男人 Men's Talk:這樣真的能找得到嗎？（４)wenwen.sogou.com: 能不能找得到啊（５）douban: 你们觉得我还能找得到对象吗？ etc As regards the 2 examples of ＂VV一下＂，both are in website headlines，and 试试一下 is repeated at least twice in the text following the headline. ＂VV一下＂ This might argue against typo, leaving only wrong usage, some users might argue: although uncommon, might it not be used to create special effects ? – user6065 Dec 17 '15 at 15:40
  • 敲敲打打一下(imitating beating drum for a short time ?),试试一下、试试试试一下 in titles on pages of xuite.net,us.weibo.com,respectively, the second being a commercial site makes "weird to native speakers" somewhat doubtful, some users find it hard to understand why mere stringing together of 2 valid expressions (for the purpose of emphasis) would make the result sound weird to native speakers (敲敲打打一下,试试一下 might be thought of as shortened forms of 敲敲打打 敲打一下, and 试试 试一下 resp)。 – user6065 Dec 19 '15 at 03:00
  • XXYY/XYXY seldom used with 一下, but XY may be used in this way frequently – gcd0318 Dec 22 '15 at 02:57