Languages and Linguistics
In reply to the discussion: Does redundancy constitute bad grammar? [View all]unblock
(52,183 posts)Last edited Sun Jul 30, 2017, 09:02 PM - Edit history (1)
In spoken language, and there's a heavy emphasis on effective communication. You can't go back and re-hear a word you missed the way you can re-read a word in a novel. So a little clarification or redundancy goes a long way.
In poetry or song, repetition has an important role in marking significance. Even "mirror, mirror, on the wall" alerts us to the esteem in which the mirror is held.
I used to be a purist about efficient and elegant language, but as I get older I find I avoid words like "eschew".
The double negatives in some languages remind me of an old joke about a professor who says that while there are languages where a double negative means a negative, and where a double negative means a positive, he insists there's no language with where a double positive mean a negative. To which a wiseass student says, "yeah, yeah!"