“Chaos theory, shmaos theory”: Creativity and routine in English shm-reduplication
Stefan Hartmann,
Tobias Ungerer
Abstract:This paper investigates an “extravagant” construction at the interface of morphology and syntax: English shm-reduplication, a pattern in which a word is immediately repeated, but the initial consonant or consonant cluster is either replaced by /ʃm/, or /ʃm/ is added to the beginning of a word if it begins with a vowel. So far, research on shm-reduplication has been limited to small samples of the construction and has mainly focused on its phonological and morphosyntactic properties rather than its semantics. T… Show more
Set email alert for when this publication receives citations?
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.