Kavalan Reduplication

Kavalan is an endangered Formosan plains-tribe language still actively spoken in daily life by fewer than one hundred native speakers. This paper investigates reduplication in Kavalan in terms of pattern and meaning. Having reviewed the relevant literature (e.g., Li 1982, 1996; Lin 1996; Chang 2000; Li and Tsuchida 2006; Lee 2007), I propose that Kavalan reduplication can be generalized into the following patterns: (1) disyllabic reduplication; (2) monosyllabic reduplication; (3) Ca-reduplication; and (4) lexicalized reduplication. Realization of reduplicants in Kavalan is phonologically driven. A flowchart is used to indicate the process of reduplicant formation. The discussion on the meanings is based on a morphosemantic perspective (cf. Kiyomi 1993), dividing reduplication into verbal and nominal types. The former manifests the meanings of iteration, continuation, intensity, intensification (with sia- or saa-), attenuation, reciprocity (with sim-), and pretense (with sa-); the latter has meanings of plurality, distributiveness, indefiniteness, and smell (with su-). Ca-reduplication is used to indicate intensification (e.g., the increasing quality of color terms), and lexicalized reduplication is often found with onomatopoetic verbal roots and names of fauna, especially birds and insects, and flora.