Reduplication and repetition in Russian Sign Language

In this paper, I analyze three repetition-related phenomena in Russian Sign Language (RSL). First, following Burkova and Filimonova (2014), I discuss morphological reduplication in RSL which fits the prototypical definition of reduplication (Stolz et al. 2011) despite the presence of some modality effects, such as simultaneity and the use of space. Second, I discuss distributive reduplication which can apply on both morphological and syntactic levels thus questioning the morphological nature of reduplication. Finally, I discuss syntactic doubling of constituents which would not normally be analyzed as reduplication, but which has some features common with reduplication. By showing overlapping properties of the three phenomena in RSL, I question the existence of a clear boundary between reduplication and repetition, at least as applied to this language.