<OT> New Posting: ROA-831

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ROA 831-0506

Discontiguous Reduplication

Justin Nuger <jnuger at ucsc.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=831


Abstract:
McCarthy & Prince (1995) outline a theory of reduplication
in which segments in the reduplicant stand in correspondence
with segments in the base. Discontiguous partial reduplication
patterns, in which a string of segments in the reduplicant
corresponds with a discontiguous string of segments in the
base, have been observed in various languages in the Austronesian
and Austroasiatic language families. Several such patterns
show a preference for the anchoring of the segments at both
edges of the base. In this paper, I propose that edge-anchoring
discontiguous reduplicants arise as a result of fundamental
constraints on phonological properties of particular languages,
arguing for what I call the Reduction Model of discontiguous
reduplication, formulated in Optimality Theory (Prince &
Smolensky 1993/2004). Under this model, discontiguous reduplicant
s are shown to be derivable from maximal prosodic constituents,
which are reduced in size due to language-particular phonological
requirements on sonority sequencing, syllable structure,
prosodic correspondence, and positional faithfulness. I
show how the interaction of these constraints with Contig-BR
and constraints on reduplicant size yields discontiguous
base-reduplicant correspondence strings in three languages:
Type V/VI reduplication in Nakanai, Expressive reduplication
in Semai, and Type III reduplication in Ulu Muar Malay.
Furthermore, I argue that reference to the right edge of
the base is not necessary to yield right-anchoring in any
of these patterns (contrary to Hendricks 2001 and Nelson
2003), but that right-anchoring falls out from the same
language-particular phonological requirements that limit
reduplicant size.

Comments: Draft: comments welcome and encouraged.
Keywords: discontiguous, reduplication, nakanai, semai, ulu, muar, malay, austronesian, austroasiatic, reduction, model
Areas: Phonology
Type: Manuscript

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=831