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eloisiustoday at 8:35 AM2 repliesview on HN

The effect of reduplicating is to make it diminutive. It like adding -ito to the end of a Spanish noun.


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Eloisssssstoday at 11:05 AM

The usual Chinese expression to describe the mushroom hallucinations is 见小人 (jiàn xiǎo rén), literally “see tiny people.”

Usually there isn't a second 人 (rén) being reduplicated here.

人人 does mean “everyone,” but that's a different construction, and Chinese noun reduplication isn't generally equivalent to adding Spanish -ito. You may also see 小人儿 (xiǎo rénr), where 儿 is a colloquial/diminutive suffix.

plucastoday at 9:46 AM

Are you sure? I thought that's what "xiǎo" was doing here, with "rén" being repeated meaning "everyone".

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