PHONOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS AND PRAGMATIC FUNCTIONS OF ABLAUT REDUPLICATION IN MODERN ENGLISH

Reduplication is a cross-linguistically widespread morphological process; however, its role in English is limited and largely lexicalized. This article focuses on ablaut reduplication, a subtype characterized by vowel alternation in paired forms such as tick-tock and flip-flop. The study investigates the phonological constraints governing these structures and analyzes their pragmatic and stylistic functions in modern English. Drawing on recent linguistic research (2019–2024), the paper demonstrates that ablaut reduplication follows systematic vowel ordering patterns and serves expressive, iconic, and discourse-related functions. The findings reveal that despite its marginal productivity, ablaut reduplication remains a significant feature of informal and creative English usage.