While English reduplication in text has no productive function, reduplication in Mandarin Chinese is used with adjectives or verbs to give a more personal, life-like, or softened feeling of the word (Liu, 2013). Given that the notion of reduplication being cute in Japanese has affected Chinese speakers’ perceptions of reduplication in Chinese (Zhuang 2019), this perception may carry over to English as well. This study explores L2 English speakers’ perception of reduplication in English text. It seeks to find the extent of influence native language properties have on second language acquisition.