Definition:
(1) Any feature of a language that is not needed in order to identify a linguistic unit. (Features that are not redundant are said to be distinctive.) Adjective: redundant.
(2) In generative grammar, any language feature that can be predicted on the basis of other language features.
(3) The repetition of the same idea or item of information within a phrase, clause, or sentence: a pleonasm or tautology.
See also:
- 200 Common Redundancies
- Exercise in Eliminating Deadwood From Our Writing
- Practice in Cutting the Clutter
Etymology:
From the Latin, "overflowing"Examples and Observations:
- "A sentence of English--or of any other language--always has more information than you need to decipher it. This redundancy is easy to see. J-st tr- t- r--d th-s s-nt-nc-. The previous sentence was extremely garbled; all the vowels in the message were removed. However, it was still easy to decipher it and extract its meaning. The meaning of a message can remain unchanged even though parts of it are removed. This is the essence of redundancy."
(Charles Seife, Decoding the Universe. Penguin, 2007) - "Thanks to the redundancy of language, yxx cxn xndxrstxnd whxt x xm wrxtxng xvxn xf x rxplxcx xll thx vxwxls wxth xn 'x' (t gts lttl hrdr f y dn't vn kn whr th vwls r). In the comprehension of speech, the redundancy conferred by phonological rules can compensate for some of the ambiguity in the sound wave. For example, a listener can know that 'thisrip' must be this rip and not the srip because the English consonant cluster sr is illegal."
(Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. William Morrow, 1994) - "Redundancy can be something as simple as the u that tends to follow a q in English (inherited from Latin), my saying 'PIN number,' or my reciting my phone number twice when leaving you voicemail; or it may be something more complex, such as the harmonious recurrences sewn into a poem. Generally, you need to pick up about three words in ten to get an inkling of what a conversation is about; it is the lack of redundancy in mathematics and its teaching that explains why so much maths bewilders so many people. Redundancy can be rhetorical, but it can also be a practical way of shielding meaning from confusion--a safeguard, a reassuring and stabilizing kind of predictability."
(Henry Hitchings, The Language Wars. John Murray, 2011) - "Highly predictable phonetic elements, grammatical markers that all must agree within a sentence, and predictable word-order constraints can help one anticipate what is coming. These are all direct contributors to redundancy."
(Terrence Deacon, The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain. Norton, 1997) - Redundancy: Definition #3
"Legal writing is legendarily redundant, with time-honored phrases such as these:
- alienate, transfer, and convey (transfer suffices)
- due and payable (due suffices)
- give, devise, and bequeath (give suffices)
- indemnify and hold harmless (indemnify suffices)
- last will and testament (will suffices)
(Bryan Garner, Legal Writing in Plain English. Univ. of Chicago, 2001) - "Planning your funeral service in advance can offer emotional and financial security for you and your family."
(Erlewein Mortuary, Greenfield, Indiana)
Pronunciation: ri-DUN-dent
