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I have heard a couple of times now the て form of a verb followed by て (or perhaps it was って?) used as an imperative. Some examples are 見てて and 黙ってて, when asking someone to look and be quiet respectively.

I am also aware of this question, but in that circumstance, the listener is being asked to "stay waiting" as I understand. However, in the case of 見てて, this interpretation seems odd when all that's needed is a quick look. (A child was asking the father to look at a toy)

I assume the phrase is still a contraction of 見ていて, but how should I understand it, and what is the difference between this and 見て? What about other verbs?

Edit

Here is an example usage of 見てて in a similar situation.

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seafood258
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    "in the case of 見てて, this interpretation seems odd when all that's needed is a quick glance", what's the situation? If indeed all that's needed is a quick glance, 見てて is weird. 見てて implies "keep watching" (e.g. "... me, while I do bla bla") – dainichi Jul 01 '15 at 02:09
  • @dainichi A child was holding a toy and went up to the father to show him. It seemed to mean something along the lines of "check this out!". I will see if I can find an example of this online. – seafood258 Jul 01 '15 at 02:37
  • @dainichi This is not audio or video, but a quick search reveals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0o4Gw18Eus and http://ameblo.jp/keropi1120/, the titles of which seem to present a similar usage. – seafood258 Jul 01 '15 at 02:41
  • @dainichi Here is another example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgbQCbTYX3U&feature=youtu.be&t=5m53s – seafood258 Jul 01 '15 at 02:45
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    Those kids are really cute. XD I tried looking in 日本語表現文型辞典 but couldn't find a specific entry for てて.... a general Google search yielded this page (linked) which has some interesting things to say about てて, though does not seem to entirely answer your question: http://www.japaneseammo.com/differences-between-%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6-and-%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E3%81%A6-brb-in-japanese/ I'll read a bit closer and edit my answer should I find something decidedly relevant. – mousouchop Jul 01 '15 at 02:57
  • Is it possible that it is a contraction of 見てと言いました。"I told you to look". If a child were to ask his father to look at something and the father ignored it, the child may say "見てって" to repeat himself with some emphasis. – Jeemusu Jul 01 '15 at 02:58
  • @Jeemusu That is something I am considering, which is why I indicated that it may have been って, but it did not seem that way. Additionally, I don't think that would apply to the examples listed. – seafood258 Jul 01 '15 at 03:01
  • What was the toy? I assume the kid wants the father to watch him/her play with it, not just quickly glance at the toy. – dainichi Jul 01 '15 at 04:36
  • @dainichi It was in a toy store, and the kid was holding a toy car. The kid was not playing with it, just bringing it over. I suppose "quick glance" was not the best way to put it; I meant that it was not a long term task like watching a TV show. In any case, I am asking about not just that particular circumstance, but as used in the examples, how can the phrase be interpreted, and can other similar phrases like 黙ってて be interpreted similarly. – seafood258 Jul 01 '15 at 05:09
  • @dainichi Or perhaps are you thinking that 見てて and 見て are similar in meaning, but 見てて implies looking at something for a longer duration? That would make sense. I was under the impression that it was a command to remain in a certain state, and I suppose that's where my confusion comes from. – seafood258 Jul 01 '15 at 05:18
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    Yes, that's correct. As for the example, the girl in the film says おとう、見てて. That corresponds to "Look at me (doing this), Dad." – eltonjohn Jul 01 '15 at 05:21
  • @eltonjohn I see. And in the case of the website, it would mean something like "check out this website (and continue doing so for a nontrivial period of time)"? Similarly, 黙ってて would mean "be quiet, and stay quiet"? – seafood258 Jul 01 '15 at 05:23
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    Yes, I guess so. Of course, you need context to be more precise, but I can hardly think of other situations. – eltonjohn Jul 01 '15 at 05:34
  • @eltonjohn I see, thanks! Would you mind writing an answer? – seafood258 Jul 01 '15 at 05:35

2 Answers2

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I think you have almost grasped the "tournure" and I have few to contribute, but...

I assume the phrase is still a contraction of 見ていて

That's correct. As for the example, the girl in the film says おとう、見てて. That corresponds to "Look at me (doing this), Dad."

it would mean something like "check out this website (and continue doing so for a nontrivial period of time)"? Similarly, 黙ってて would mean "be quiet, and stay quiet"?

Yes, I guess so. Of course, you need context to be more precise, but I can hardly think of other possibilities.

eltonjohn
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I believe that it is simply a more emphatic way to give the very same command. The politeness of this inflection seems to be dependent on the tone in which the command is given (perhaps rank/level plays a role too). For instance, your two examples seem pretty neutral, but I have also heard things like:

EDIT: My first example was erroneous and actually an example of the 出て行って contraction which translates as "get out and stay out!", and can apparently be further shortened to 出てって

待ってて - Wait! ~ "Hey guys... waiiit!" (spoken with more of a annoyed whine)

As such, this seems to be more of a spoken construct, allowing for tone to help convey the fully intended "politness."

EDIT: I think it does make the command come across more as a DEMAND; not doing what is asked in a 「〜てて」 command will likely lead to unfavorable outcomes (the kid with the toy would cry and pester the father, the person that requested you to shut up will get more frustrated as you continue to talk, etc).

EDIT 2: I found this article which has an example comparing and contrasting two sentences, one using 見て and the other 見てて:

「見て！あの雲、ハートの形してる！」 Look! That cloud is shaped like heart!

「すぐ戻るから、テレビでも見てて。」 I’ll be right back, so watch TV or something.

But still, this doesn't quite fit with what I imagine/interpret that little girl is saying in your video... although perhaps it translates to something like

「見てて」 Hey, look at this/me/it for a minute, please...

mousouchop
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    出てて is possible, but means something like "go out and stay outside". You're possibly talking about 出てって, a contraction of 出て行って. 待ってて is unnatural for the translation you give, it means something like "wait (for me) here". First one is resultative, second one is continuous. – dainichi Jul 01 '15 at 01:18
  • Yeeeah, I just tried to answer from my own observations. I think you are correct in your 出て行って contraction, as that fits really well with the movie scene I was thinking of. The second example I gave was also from a scene I recalled-- I suppose the tone of the speaker in that case was more annoyed, but very non-threatening. In any event, I have no sources for my conclusions above, as they were simply my observations/conclusions. I'll edit what I can above, though perhaps I haven't even started to answer the question... – mousouchop Jul 01 '15 at 01:32
  • @mousouchop It seemed to be a rather friendly "check this out!". Please see the example in the comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgbQCbTYX3U&feature=youtu.be&t=5m53s Thanks, I appreciate your time. :) – seafood258 Jul 01 '15 at 02:48