{"id":15182,"date":"2022-06-24T17:32:53","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T17:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=15182"},"modified":"2022-06-24T17:32:53","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T17:32:53","slug":"russian-hocus-pocus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/russian-hocus-pocus\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian hocus-pocus"},"content":{"rendered":"

This title is just one of the combinations I used trying to search for the name of the super-duper fascinating language thing we are about to discuss. Would you like to guess what it is? An itsy-bitsy guess? I cannot give you another clue, but I will say this: googling \u2018Russian hanky-panky\u2019 will NOT take you to any helpful linguistic articles. \u041f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u044c\u0442\u0435 \u043c\u043d\u0435 (trust me).<\/span><\/p>\n

The answer is Rhyming Reduplications. I know, real hoity-toity sounding for what it is in practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you haven\u2019t already realized, all the rhyming paired words I just used like \u201csuper-duper\u201d, \u201citsy-bitsy\u201d and even \u201chanky-panky\u201d are all considered \u201crhyming reduplications\u201d in English.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You have probably seen some sprinkled in colloquial Russian speech before. And if not, you will likely notice something interesting about these examples.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0422\u0430\u043d\u0446\u044b-\u0448\u043c\u0430\u043d\u0446\u044b<\/span><\/a> – dances<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0428\u0430\u0448\u043b\u044b\u043a-\u043c\u0430\u0448\u043b\u044b\u043a – shashlik or kebabs<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041f\u0430\u0432\u043b\u0438\u043d-\u043c\u0430\u0432\u043b\u0438\u043d – peacock<\/span><\/p>\n

The added rhyming word gives the pair a meaning of \u201cthis thing and the like\u201d or lets the speaker indicate either indifference and dismissal towards the word.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you thought that these are not much different from the English paired words where you just repeat the word with the first letter switched for \u2018sh\u2019 or \u2018m\u2019 sound (think ‘fancy-schmancy’), you are correct. But there is a catch. As it turns out, the world of Russian rhyming reduplications is more extensive than English. Let\u2019s see some examples.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"fox\"

Photo by Alex Andrews<\/a><\/strong> from Pexels<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Where it all starts<\/b><\/h4>\n

Rhyming reduplications enter the vocabulary of Russian children early in their childhood. It is commonly used to describe animal characters in folk tales and children\u2019s stories. The unique part is that the paired word is not a nonsense rhyming word but most always a descriptive adjective or a modified word that adds meaning to the character.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041b\u044f\u0433\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0430-\u043a\u0432\u0430\u043a\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0430 = a croaking frog<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041b\u0438\u0441\u0438\u0447\u043a\u0430-\u0441\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0438\u0447\u043a\u0430 = a “sisterly” fox (not actually a sister)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041a\u0430\u0431\u0430\u043d-\u043a\u043b\u044b\u043a\u0430\u043d = a boar with tusks<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041c\u0430\u043b\u044c\u0447\u0438\u043a-\u0441-\u043f\u0430\u043b\u044c\u0447\u0438\u043a = a boy the size of a finger<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041c\u044b\u0448\u043a\u0430-\u043d\u043e\u0440\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0430 = a mouse that lives in a hole<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0417\u0430\u0439\u0447\u0438\u043a-\u043f\u043e\u043f\u0440\u044b\u0433\u0430\u0439\u0447\u0438\u043a = a jumpy hare<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041a\u043e\u043d\u0435\u043a-\u0433\u043e\u0440\u0431\u0443\u043d\u043e\u043a = a horse with a hump<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041c\u0443\u0445\u0430-\u0446\u043e\u043a\u043e\u0442\u0443\u0445\u0430 = a very talkative fly<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0421\u0438\u0432\u043a\u0430-\u0431\u0443\u0440\u043a\u0430 = a gray and dark red horse\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"kids

Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva<\/a><\/strong> from Pexels<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

How it develops<\/b><\/h4>\n

All of the above characters come from Russian children\u2019s poems<\/a>, fairy tales, and stories. But rhyming doesn\u2019t stop there. Plenty of adults use rhyming reduplications in their day-to-day life even if the rhymes originally came from things in their childhood.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041f\u0430\u043b\u043e\u0447\u043a\u0430-\u0432\u044b\u0440\u0443\u0447\u0430\u043b\u043e\u0447\u043a\u0430 \u0438\u043b\u0438 \u043f\u0430\u043b\u043e\u0447\u043a\u0430-\u043f\u043e\u043c\u043e\u0433\u0430\u043b\u043e\u0447\u043a\u0430 = a stick or wand that will help you in a fairy tale but now used to talk about helpful people<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041a\u0430\u0448\u0430-\u043c\u0430\u043b\u0430\u0448\u0430 = a mess of mixed ingredients or a hodgepodge but also a common way to talk about chaotic situations and mix-ups<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0416\u0430\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0430-\u0433\u043e\u0432\u044f\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0430 = a greedy person, although “\u0433\u043e\u0432\u044f\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0430” (beef) here is purely for rhyming reasons<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041a\u0440\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0438-\u043d\u043e\u043b\u0438\u043a\u0438 = the game of tic-tac-toe. By the way, the Russian game\u2019s name makes so much more sense because it is just \u201ccrosses and zeros\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

And there is even a children\u2019s toy<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u041d\u0435\u0432\u0430\u043b\u044f\u0448\u043a\u0430 <\/b>that is a tumbler toy for toddlers. It also goes by the name of \u0412\u0430\u043d\u044c\u043a\u0430-\u0412\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u044c\u043a\u0430.<\/b> The most common design is of a Russian doll-like character dressed in all red with dark hair in a white scarf. Technically, the toy\u2019s name is just <\/span>\u041d\u0435\u0432\u0430\u043b\u044f\u0448\u043a\u0430 <\/b>(the one who doesn\u2019t lay down), but because of Samuil Marshak\u2019s famous children’s <\/span>poem, <\/span><\/a>the name \u0412\u0430\u043d\u044c\u043a\u0430-\u0412\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u044c\u043a\u0430 (Van\u2019ka who gets up or Get up, Van’ka) has become a second name for this classic toy. Nowadays, however, there is a different adult <\/em>product on the market by the name of \u0412\u0430\u043d\u044c\u043a\u0430-\u0412\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u044c\u043a\u0430 that is all about not<\/span> having kids. \u0421 \u0447\u0443\u0432\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e\u043c \u044e\u043c\u043e\u0440\u0430 \u0443 \u043c\u0430\u0440\u043a\u0435\u0442\u0438\u043d\u0433\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043e\u0442\u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430 \u044d\u0442\u043e\u0439 \u0444\u0438\u0440\u043c\u044b \u0432\u0441\u0451 \u0441\u0443\u043f\u0435\u0440-\u043f\u0443\u043f\u0435\u0440. (That company’s marketing department has a super-duper great sense of humor).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"tic-tac-toe\"

Photo by El\u012bna Ar\u0101ja<\/a><\/strong> from Pexels<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Homework<\/b><\/h4>\n

While you can certainly find a way to jokingly (or not) call one of your friends <\/span>\u0436\u0430\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0430-\u0433\u043e\u0432\u044f\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0430 <\/b>(greedy) or\u00a0 <\/span>\u043f\u043b\u0430\u043a\u0441\u0430-\u0432\u0430\u043a\u0441\u0430 <\/b>(cry baby), there are plenty of rhyming reduplications left for adults to use. Let\u2019s see how many of these you know:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0413\u043e\u0433\u043e\u043b\u044c-\u043c\u043e\u0433\u043e\u043b\u044c<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0428\u0443\u0440\u044b-\u043c\u0443\u0440\u044b<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0421\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0438-\u043c\u043e\u0440\u0434\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0438<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0414\u0435\u0432\u043e\u0447\u043a\u0430-\u043f\u0440\u0438\u043f\u0435\u0432\u043e\u0447\u043a\u0430<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0401\u043b\u043a\u0438-\u043f\u0430\u043b\u043a\u0438<\/span><\/p>\n

Leave your answers with definitions and\/or examples of sentences with these pairs in the comments below.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"tic-tac-toe\"

This title is just one of the combinations I used trying to search for the name of the super-duper fascinating language thing we are about to discuss. Would you like to guess what it is? An itsy-bitsy guess? I cannot give you another clue, but I will say this: googling \u2018Russian hanky-panky\u2019 will NOT take…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":15185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,6,8,13],"tags":[557324,557325],"class_list":["post-15182","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-grammar","category-language","category-vocabulary","tag-rhyming-reduplications-in-russian","tag-russian-rhyming-reduplications"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15182"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15207,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15182\/revisions\/15207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}