What does "small small" mean in Indian English?

Question

There is a type of 'double adjective' expression in colloquial (mainly spoken) Indian English, which is a reflection of usage in many (Indian) subcontinental languages, example: "small small".

For instance,

"... ... That was so much beautiful, I can't tell. There were big big mountains, and there were small small houses in the foothills of them. ... ...".

My guess is that this is merely used to express a plural form, as in (converted to Standard English). It's more like "a collection of big mountains".

"... ... That was so beautiful, I can't tell you how much. There were some big mountains, and there were many small houses in their foothills."

Am I right?

Other examples of doubling of adjectives as in 'small small':

The playground was full of little little children playing.

If you have any sense, you will listen to old old people!

Big big people will do big big things. Small small people shouldn't imitate them.

In short, what does this type of double adjective as used in colloquial Indian English really mean, and how would you express the same in standard English?

Answer 1

Reduplication is used in Indian English to indicate emphasis, distributive meaning, or indefiniteness

The sources I found indicate that reduplication of adjectives in Indian English can indicate various qualities: emphasis, distributive meaning, or indefiniteness.

This page I found shows that it's used in a distributive manner:

(5) Reduplication used for emphasis and to indicate a distributive meaning: I bought some small small things; Why you don't give them one one piece of cake?

– "Indian English", Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language

The first sentence would mean "a number of small things" and the second sentence would mean "give everyone a piece of the cake".

And this other page specifically says "small small" does not necessarily mean "very small":

Indian Pidgin English is an example of a variety that uses reduplication in a remarkable number of ways. [...] if you hear This house has small small room the meaning is not "a very small room" but "several small rooms". The reduplication expresses plurality.

– Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar, by David Crystal, on Google Books

Some more resources for further reference:

• Students' Britannica India: Select essays on Google Books
• Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English on Google Books

How to express this in other kinds of English

This kind of expression is often used in my language and I get where you're coming from (hopefully). In Turkish, this would emphasize plurality, meaning there are an increased number of small things rather than the same number of smaller things. Unfortunately, Standard English has nothing like what you're suggesting.

The closest you can get is the adjectives like "many" or "a number of". As in

There were a number of large mountains, and many small houses in the foothills.

or you can imply a plural form with "a range of" and by that way, you can use "a number of" for the houses without repeating yourself

There was a range of large mountains, and there were a number of small houses in the foothills.

If you want to imply distance between the houses or the mountains, you could change it to something like

There were a number of large mountains scattered around [the valley], and small houses were at their foothills.

There was a range of large mountains, and small houses were scattered around the foothills.

There was a range of large mountains, and there were a number of small houses, scattered around the foothills.

Answer 2

In UK English, the nearest equivalent is to use two different words, both meaning small

• Indian "small small" -> UK "tiny little" (to emphasise smallness) or "loads of little" (to emphasise large number)

• Indian "big big" -> UK "great big"

• "cold cold" -> UK "freezing cold"

• "hot hot" -> UK "boiling hot" (for an environment), "scalding hot" (for a liquid) etc.

Answer 3

Repetition of a word in a sentence is right if it makes grammatical sense.

An immediate repetition of a word, separated by punctuation, is appropriate for emphatic effect, for example,

“I am far, far away from home.”

Answer 4

In almost all Indian languages, repetition of adjectives is used to indicate that there are many such items available.

E.g.: There are small small houses in the village means there are many small houses in the village.

Answer 5

It's much like "thinking in one language and speaking it in another". Indian has quite similar words to Turkish and accordingly, what might be called "doubling" (for emphasis) in these kind of languages, does not exist in English.

That's why "big big" would be uncertain to the reader. Two words with similar or same meaning work much better. In this example, repetitive adjective doesn't emphasize scale of size; rather it emphasizes the quantity, which doesn't have to be plentiful or rare, of same-sized things. So "big big" doesn't mean "greater big"; but rather, it means "a number of big..", but not necessarily "so much of it".

Ultimately, this kind of expression in English would be achieved using two similar/close words. Like "great big" and "tiny little" as said.

Answer 6

English has many adjectives and adverbs which are similar in meaning but differ in degree. In the present context, for example, "huge" or "enormous" would be used in place of "big big" and "tiny" or "miniscule" in place of "small small". We sometimes use "absolutely" with the more extreme words giving phrases like "absolutely enormous mountains" and even, less often, double up extreme words giving phrases like "tiny, tiny houses" but I can't think of a case where I would say "small small" because there are adjectives of greater degree which do the job better.

In relation to Javed Ahmed's answer "far" is doubled for emphasis in "far, far away" because there are no commonly used adjectives of higher degree for distance as there are for size, although we can use "very far" which is rather more prosaic and less expressive.

Repeated adjectives are more often used by and for children because the higher degree adjectives are part of an extended vocabulary and there are also informal adjectives and portmanteau words used in informal speech like "teeny tiny" and "ginormous" (from "gigantic" and "enormous") but the use of these would usually be humourous in intent and would certainly not be taken seriously by a listener or reader.

Answer 7

This is also common in Mandarin. It means very big or very small. You can also use words that have the meaning of very big, such as gigantic or enormous. For very small, you could choose tiny or miniscule. Even more choices are at http://thesaurus.com I suggest avoiding multiple very or much or other modifiers. It can quickly make you sound childish, such as "very, very, very, very big".

Answer 8

Look at those pretty pretty flowers!

I feel like this repetition is related to the language spoken by adults to children, in English anyway (when without the commas).

Yes, those repetitions like 'big big' are common in other languages like Chinese as well. It's usually used in a succession though, or it would sound 'queer'. For example (in Chinese): Look at those tall tall trees, those small small houses, those, those blue blue skies...". It is just a style of writing.

Like Javed Ahmed said, in English, if you have the comma in between, it sounds perfectly fine. "there were big, big mountains, and small, small, oh so small cottages..."

Answer 9

I think words of more intense meaning would be a good translation. In this case, you are contrasting the scale of the mountains with the size of the houses. I would translate this as "Enormous mountains" and "really tiny houses".

But there isn't a single word or phrase that maps directly to "big big" or "small small".