Re-duplicatives are one of the many ways new words are made in English.

A teacher sitting with two young learners in a classroom in Thailand

Re-duplicatives are words made by copying the sound of the first word in the second.

Example
'Honky-tonk', 'wishy-washy', 'mish-mash' and 'ping-pong' are examples of re-duplicative words.

In the classroom
Re-duplicatives are an interesting and creative area of vocabulary, and can be exploited to practise problematic areas of pronunciation, such as consonant clusters and rhyming sounds.

Further links:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/rhyming-pair-game

Research and insight

Browse fascinating case studies, research papers, publications and books by researchers and ELT experts from around the world.

See our publications, research and insight