Reduplication in Kimaragang

by
David Corrigan
Salem Community College

The data on which this analysis is based may be found in the 25 April 2001 issue of The Hammer of God as reported by Jim Johansson of the Institut Linguistik SIL.

Syllable Patterns
Patterns:

V
CV
CVC
VC

 Samples:

i/mot
ki/to
di/dil
an/tara

Comments:

Kimaragang displays an aversion to consonant clusters and (except in word final position) syllable final consonants. The only CC patterns appear when the first consonant is a nasal [+ sonorant] that is homorganic to a following stop. In fact, for the process of reduplication, this sonorant quite probably is even more closely linked to its preceding vowel to form a sonorant syllable peak.

Reduplication Morphophonemics
Rule 1:
Reduplication

(V(C))CV(C)- + (V(C))CV(C)-
--> (V(C))CV(C) + (V(C))CV(C)-

Samples: imot + imot --> imotimot
kito + kito --> kikito
burabus + burabus --> buburabus

Explication:

Create a prefix by repeating the first CV(C) syllable along with any preceding vowel-initial homosonorous syllable. (Samples involving the VCCV(C)- pattern undergo further morphophonemic change. See below.)

Rule 2:
Sonorant Reduction

C --> [- sonorant] : V _ + V [+ high]

Explication:

While the given data supports this analysis of a consonant losing sonority, the phenomenon appears only once (ugar --> ugasugar but abur --> aburabur). More data may reveal the need to state further constraints.

Rule 3:
Syllable Deletion

V(C)/ --> Ø : V + _ / C

Samples: arati + arati --> ararati
owoli + owoli --> owowoli
urupug + urupug --> ururupug
antara + antara --> antatara

Explication:

A vowel-initiated syllable is deleted when preceded by a vowel. While neither confirmed nor refuted by the data presented, this analysis predicts that a form like imbulay should be reduplicated as imbubulay.

Rule Ordering

Rule 1, Reduplication, must apply first.

Rules 2 and 3, being mutually exclusive and in fact reflecting a similar process (sonorant cluster reduction) are not crucially ordered with respect to each other.

Derivation:
Reduplication

antara + antara --> anta + antara

Syllable Deletion

anta + antara --> antatara


© 2001 D.Corrigan