Seesaw a "teeter-totter". According to linguist Peter Trudgill, the term originates from the Nordic language word "tittermatorter". A "teeter-totter" may also refer to a two-person swing on a swing seat, on which two children sit facing each other and the teeter-totter swings back and forth in a pendulum motion. Both "teeter-totter" (from "teeter", as in "to teeter on the edge") and "seesaw" (from the verb "saw") demonstrate the linguistic process called reduplication, where a word or syllable is doubled, often with a different vowel. Reduplication is typical of words that indicate repeated activity, such as riding up and down on a
Karl V. Teeter refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. He continued to work far into his retirement, concentrating on completing the lexicon of Wiyot on which he had been working since his student days, and encouraging research on endangered languages through participation in such organizations as the Foundation for Endangered Languages. Karl V. Teeter Karl van Duyn Teeter (March 2, 1929 – April 20, 2007) was an American linguist known especially for his work on the Algic languages. Teeter was born in Berkeley, California, to Charles Edwin Teeter, Jr., a college professor of acoustic engineering, and Lura May (née Shaffner)