Reduplication

The subject of this article is nonstandard and will not be understood by most speakers.

If you are a learner, this information will not help you speak the language. It is recommended to familiarize yourself with the standard style, and to be informed and selective about which nonstandard styles you adopt.

Reduplication is repeating a word (near)-exactly to form a new word or phrase. In English, it occurs in words like "bye-bye" and "zigzag", in contrastive focus reduplication, and with "schm-".

Reduplication has often been suggested for Toki Pona, generally as an intensifier (for example, suwi suwi for "really cute"). However, it is not widely used, with a, mute, and suli being used for emphasis instead.

A potential ambiguity of this feature would be the phrase lili lili. Under current standard grammar, it means "a little small". If read as reduplicated, it would also mean "very small", becoming an auto-antonym.