Resultative verb compounds cannot be reduplicated, for example:
*lai-kai-la-kai *拉开拉开 ‘pull-open-pull-open’
*tiao-guoqu-tiao-guoqu *跳过去跳过去 ‘jump-across-jump-across’.
In Mandarin Chinese, most action verbs can be reduplicated in order to delimitative aspect, as illustrated below,
chang 尝 ‘to taste’ chang-chang尝尝 ‘have a taste’
huodong 活动‘take action’ huodong-huodong 活动 ‘take some action’
Reference
Li, C. N., & Thompson, S. A. (1989). Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar (Vol. 3). Univ of California Press.
