Intensive Reduplication

[Patrick C. Ryan]

Dear Nath and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Vidhyanath Rao <vidynath at math.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 1999 4:20 PM

> Patrick C. Ryan <proto-language at email.msn.com> wrote:

>> Also, I am curious if you can cite a non-arguable ablative in -as that
>> becomes -e: in sandhi?

>> Frankly, I find -as in sandhi becoming -e: simply incredible.

> I don't know of >non-arguable< as that becomes e: in Sanskrit, but it did
> occur in some MIA dialects. Pali sermons often begin with bhikkhave <
> bhiks.avas, which can only be a generalization of a sandhi variant.

Thanks for this input.

> And in a different message:

>> I know that this is a bit late in the game to be asking this question but
>> where did we get this Sanskrit form [I think ganigam-/ganigm] in the
>> first place?

> The forms in RV are gani:ganti (6.75.3) and ganigmatam (10.41.1).  The n
> for the m of the root makes me wonder if the i(:) is original. We find
> inserted i in bharibhrati and (ni)ghanighnate from *bher and *ghen and I
> would be very surprised if these two roots ever had an initial laryngeal.

The <bharibhrati> example is interesting. I was leaning towards a suspicion
that the -i- in ganigmatam was perhaps inserted to prevent the immediate
juxtaposition of n-g, which, if producing the dorsal nasal, would have
produced a possibly ambiguous (-sounding) reduplication of gan-.
Incidentally, contrary to what I wrote earlier, <ga{'}ni:gam-> is listed on
pg. 34 in Whitney as an intensive. Although I cannot find any indication
with the materials I have here, is it possible perhaps that the intial
gan(i)- with the strange <n> is perhaps a Sanskrit reflex of something
related to IE *gagina?

Also, in the case of <bharibhrati>, the perhaps intrusive <i> seems to be
preventing an analysis of <bharbh->, which would have lost some phonological
continuity if modified to <**barbh->?

Pat

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