On some ‘redundant compounds’ in modern hindi

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to argue that a particular class of N + N structures in Modern Hindi must be analysed in terms of a rule of reduplication that reduplicates a noun in its corresponding non-active shape and not as a class of compound nouns as most grammars suggest. The required extension of ‘reduplication’ is discussed and justified. The code-switching explanation for their appearance in the language is examined and modified by relating their growth to the structural resources of Hindi.