The Significance of Redundancy

【Abstract】Redundancy is a language phenomenon that appears in every level of language and it is internal to language. This paper attempts to explain the forms and functions of redundancy through different levels of language with several examples， thus the value of redundancy is pursuit to help learners to obtain a deeper and better understanding in language learning.

【Key words】redundancy； ambiguity； comprehension

【作者簡介】马文星，女，甘肃庆阳人，西安外国语大学英文学院，2017级在读研究生，研究方向：外国语言学及应用语言学。

1. Introduction

In linguistics， redundancy refers to information that is expressed more than once. Redundancy by definitions from various scholars are noted as： “information available for more than one source” （Smith， 1971：132）； or redundancy is a critical feature in our communication and language in particular. （Darian， 1979）. According to the definition， many people regard redundancy as a negative feature of language， but it does make a difference in a particular way to forming human language.

2. Forms of the redundancy

In previous we mentioned redundancy exists in all level of language， and the types of the redundancy are divided into grammatical redundancy and contextual redundancy because the two could incorporate all kinds of redundancy.

2.1 Grammatical redundancy

Grammatical redundancy refers to a internal system and the rule manipulating language in which two or more of its forms that serve the same function. （Wit & Gillette， 1999）. In many languages， there is a agreement adjective when the subjective noun is in the different gender and number. For instance， in Russian： красивое， красивая， красивые. In English， some affixes are obviously redundant， such as “inflammable” indicates the same meaning with or without the original word “flammable”. From those two examples we can assume that the grammatical redundancy is obligatory， which means the element of redundancy cannot be randomly deleted.

2.2 Contextual redundancy

Contextual redundancy， the repetition of the information， is voluntary and optional to the communication. When we discuss the contextual redundancy， we study it from the semantic and pragmatic perspective of language. Actually， in this paper we only talk about three of them.

2.2.1 Identical or synonymous repetition

Identical or synonymous repetition appears when the information contains two or more identical or similar meaning. Many literature works use it as a rhetoric way of reinforcing the effect of the emotional feeling. For examples： I had a big， big toy bear. I am entirely and completely crazy about her.

2.2.2 Isolating repetition

This kind of repetition is about at least two sub-expressions sharing overlapping features， of which one implicitly embraces some characteristics of the other. （Wit & Gillette， 1999）. For examples： ATM machine. He comes from Xian， China.

2.2.3 Contrastive repetition

Contrastive repetition occurs when two or more information that one implies the negative meaning of another semantically are repeated or redundantly interpreted： I love milk tea and you dont.

3. The functions of the redundancy

It is said that half of what we communicate is not new information but already stated or inferred elsewhere （Darian， 1979）， as a result， redundancy is often seen as a bad thing when efficiency is the priority. Therefore， what are the purposes of redundancy？ First of all， redundancy responses for diminishing mistakes and misunderstanding. A successful communication lies in achieving speakers intention through less word， however， if the listener doesnt catch the speakers point the communication failed， then more information is required. Another role the redundancy plays is enhancing the comprehensibility. When we express our thoughts or propose arguments we hope to make our information clearly understood by audience， during which we should express ideas as deliberately as possible. Especially to a second language learner， using the redundancy may help him/her deeply grasp the knowledge. The last function of redundancy is strengthening or creating the emotional effect. By using redundancy the listener or reader will obtain a strong sense on information that has been received.

4. Conclusion

We say that human language is unique and no animal can create such system as we do. It is complexity that makes human language solely unique and redundancy is one of the reason why our language becomes abundantly creative. Although there are still debates on value of redundancy among the scholars， we cannot deny its significance in reducing the ambiguity and enhancing comprehension in language. Redundancy is not useless and does not simply exist by chance， rather， it comes into being when we require and plays an important role in language.

References：

[1]Darian，S.The Role of Redundancy in Language and Language Teaching[J].System，Elsevier，1979（7）：47-59.