Inquiry: Partial reduplication (fwd)

[Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 12:23:49 -0500 (EST)
From: Adelwisa A Weller <alagawel at umich.edu>
To: cotseal2000 at umich.edu
Subject: Inquiry: Partial reduplication (fwd)

fyi.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 12:17:19 -0500
From: Scott McGinnis <smcginnis at nflc.org>
To: "'councilnews-list at Majordomo.umd.edu'" <councilnews-list at Glue.umd.edu>
Subject: Inquiry: Partial reduplication

Date:  Wed, 25 Oct 2000 21:55:38 -0400 (EDT)
From:  Bert Vaux <vaux at fas.harvard.edu>
Subject:  partial reduplication with fixed segmentism

I am currently collecting cases where a language has productive partial
reduplication with fixed segmentism, and would be grateful for any data
or references that readers of this list could send me.
Some examples of this type of reduplication:

- English shm-reduplication: lunch-shmunch, table-shmable, ugly-shmugly
- Turkish m-reduplication: kitab-mitab 'books and such', para-mara, etc.
- Dravidian gi-reduplication: pali-giri, etc.

This phenomenon has been discussed in a number of recent articles by
John
McCarthy and his students, but I am interested in compiling a more
complete picture of how this phenomenon works, which involves addressing
the following questions:

- What languages have productive reduplication of this sort?
- What sort of areal distribution does each subtype have? (e.g.
m-reduplication is found throughout the Balkans, Middle East, and
Caucasus)
- What segments and sequences are chosen as the fixed material?
- What do speakers do when the base word begins with the same sequence
as
the fixed segment(s)? (e.g. many speakers avoid shmo -> *shmo shmo,
etc.)
- WHat other sorts of constraints hold over this type of formation?
(e.g.
can other words or clauses intervene between the base and the
reduplicant?)
- What is the semantic range of this sort of reduplication?

The process I'm interested is also sometimes called echo
reduplication, but is *not* the same as what was called echo
reduplication
in an earlier posting on the Linguist List, which involved
non-productive
cases like willy-nilly, hobson-jobson, etc. I am (for present purposes)
only interested in *productive* partial reduplication with fixed melodic
material.

Thanks for your help,

Bert

- ----------------------------
Bert Vaux
Associate Professor of Linguistics
Harvard University
313 Boylston Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 496-4516
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~vaux