Oh yeah, repeating syllables for emphasis / cuteness is a thing in Chinese. I wouldn't call it a verbal tic, just a feature of the language.
I had the most fascinating conversation with a white guy who thought it had been offensive that people were joking around with someone with a Chinese name that she should repeat the syllables of her name (for disambiguation, bc there were a lot of people with the same pinyin name), and in retrospect, it didn't ping me as immediately wrong for this reason.
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Re: 14. 去者日以疏 – The Departed Are More Distant Daily
Date: 2021-08-30 11:59 pm (UTC)I had the most fascinating conversation with a white guy who thought it had been offensive that people were joking around with someone with a Chinese name that she should repeat the syllables of her name (for disambiguation, bc there were a lot of people with the same pinyin name), and in retrospect, it didn't ping me as immediately wrong for this reason.