Reduplication in Tapiete (Tupi-Guarani): a phonological account

GONZÁLEZ, HEBE

Sevilla

Simposio; ICA 52 International Congres of Americanistas 52, Sevilla 2006; 2006

This paper explores the phonological rules that govern reduplication in Tapiete. Specifically, it explores the interaction between nasal harmony and partial reduplication. Tapiete displays partial reduplication: a monomoraic stressed syllable is reduplicated to the left of the root from left to right. The template formally matches the language maximal syllable, which is of the type (C)V(V)(N) and, therefore, parallels the Tapiete parameters of syllable building. This characterization accounts for the different patterns of reduplication found in Tapiete. The following analysis of reduplication in Tapiete follows the ideas of metrical morphology as proposed by McCarthy and Prince (McCarthy and Prince in Kenstowicz 1994.) according to which the template (i.e. the reduplicated material) is understood in the framework of prosody categories such as the mora, the syllable, and the metrical foot (Kenstowicz 1994:624.) and is considered a phonemically empty affix that denotes the language maximal syllable.