Reduplicated plural

A reduplicated plural is a grammatical form achieved by the superfluous use of a second plural ending.

In English the plural is usually formed with the addition of 's': e.g. one cat, two cats; one chair, two chairs. In the Sussex dialect, however, until relatively recently there existed a reduplicated plural: e.g. one ghost, two ghostes/ghostesses; one post, two postes/postesses (note that here the Sussex pluralisation instead of adding just 's' after 'st', adds either 'es' as its usual plural, or a reduplicated 'esses'.[1] Donald Mackenzie suggests that in Kipling's in Puck of Pook's Hill the word 'pharisees' apparently used by Shoesmith for fairies was formed as a Sussex reduplicated plural.[2]

In The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the character Gollum speaks with reduplicated plurals, often complaining about "sneaky little hobbitses".

References

  1. ↑ Parish, W.D. (1877). A Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect and Collection of Provincialisms in Use in the County of Sussex. Lewes: Farncombe & Co. p. 18.
  2. ↑ "Dymchurch Flit", Donald Mackenzie
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