Timothy C.
Phillips
Summer
Institute of Linguistics
Retention and Reduction in Reduplicants of Semai
One
dialect of Semai has the homophonous verb form ɟək
which can mean either "to stand" or "to marry". When these two verbs are reduplicated,
however, the former surfaces as ɟəɲɟək
and the latter as ɟəkɟək,
the difference being explanable historically by a segment retained in the
reduplicant which has been lost in the base. This is just one phenomenon
witnessed in Semai reduplication. This
paper explores the wide variety of reduplication found across various Semai
dialects, then proposes a series iambic reductions that serve to explain these
phenomena. Examples of this same general pattern of reduplication and reduction
are provided from several other Aslian languages as well.