Knowledge base · Part V — Morphophonology and Sandhi · this topic as a network
32. Reduplication Phonology and Rule Interaction
How does reduplication interact with phonological processes such as assimilation and epenthesis in Hokkaido Ainu?
Overview
What is the general phonological process of reduplication in Hokkaido Ainu?
Verbal reduplication in Hokkaido Ainu is a productive word-formation process that serves primarily to express repetition or duration of an action or phenomenon (Refsing 1986: 31, 149). Nakagawa analyses it as expressing lexical aspect rather than the grammatical category of number, a characterisation that differs in level of analysis from accounts that treat it as marking plurality of action (Refsing 1986: 31, Nakagawa 2022: 17.1). Three structural types are distinguished: root reduplication, partial stem reduplication, and full stem reduplication (Nakagawa 2024: 152). Root reduplication expresses repetition of action for transitive verbs and repetition of change of state or a high degree of state for intransitive verbs (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936; reported in Nakagawa 2024: 152); Satō further specifies that root-reduplicated verbs such as yas-yas-ke denote an action occurring irregularly in various places, with the range or degree of the action being small and affecting only a part (Satō 2008: 247, 277). Partial stem reduplication — reduplication of the portion of the root following the initial consonant, or of the final syllable of the verb stem — expresses continuative aspect and, more precisely, the continuation of the result after an action is performed (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936; reported in Nakagawa 2024: 152); the form sik-mak-ak-a is cited as an instance of this pattern (Satō 2008: 277). Full stem reduplication expresses repetition of action or change of state, continuation of action, or a high degree of state (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936; reported in Nakagawa 2024: 152), and Satō associates complete reduplication of the word, as in yaske-yaske, with an action occurring to a full degree (Satō 2008: 247, 277). Root reduplication and partial stem reduplication are in principle restricted to V/-pa type verbs, whereas full stem reduplication is found on various verb types (Nakagawa 2024: 153). Reduplication of adverbs or particles indicates emphasis (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936), and reduplication plays an important role in verb word formation generally, while nouns formed by reduplication — such as ramram 'scales' and taktak 'lump' — are not very common (Satō 2008: 277). Vowel reduplication also occurs commonly in derivational morphology more broadly (Okuda 2022: 11.2). In the Sakhalin variety, reduplication of verb stems expresses repetition of an action or a high degree of a quality (Murasaki 2025: 91).
generated 19 claims ·
Coda alternation in paired reduplicants: rikin and rikip
How does coda alternation in paired reduplicants (e.g., rikin and rikip) arise?
Corpus illustration
What corpus example illustrates the absence of sandhi at the internal reduplicant-base boundary?