Lesson 8 — Sound Rules and CVC reduplication  

The juncture between the two  CVC sequences in  CVC reduplication gives rise to many possible combinations of sounds. Various sound rules apply to these sequences.
This page discusses two sound rules that you've already seen, showing how they apply to  CVC reduplication.

Sound Rule — Consonant plus   becomes a single unit

You've already seen how a sequence of consonant plus glottal stop becomes a single glottalized consonant, as in its tongue
ma k–ap > ma kap "my house"
ma selew
  ma s–elew ma selew "its tongue"
So far this has simply looked like a question of how you write glottalized stops, but  CVC reduplication brings this sound rule to life.
You've seen how  CVC reduplication brings along any leading consonant when the reduplicated sequence starts with a vowel, as in
  k–ackaw + R > kackackaw "I keep making mistakes"  
  s–aqmil + R > saqsaqmil "he/she keeps drinking"  
Exactly the same thing happens with glottal stop — it coalesces with the consonant that comes before it and becomes a glottalized consonant. Then  CVC reduplication repeats this glottalized consonant as the first element of the  CVC sequence:
  k–oyon + R > koykoyon "I keep helping" her words
  p–wn + R > pwpwn "you're cutting with a knife"
  s–aqlw + R + >  saqsaqlw  "his/her words"
        saqsaqlw
Sound Rule — Consonant loses glottalization before another consonant
Top

Glottalized consonants lose their glottalization when another consonant comes right after them. you've seen this with the two suffixes you've learned so far:
waqaq + –wun > waqaqwun "frogs" frogs
waqaqwun
  s-tiik–wa > tiikwa "he/she recognized it"
This also happens when CVC reduplication puts a consonant after a glottalized consonant:
It can involve words that are  CVC themselves and end in a glottalized consonant:
  wic + R + > wicwic "birds" birds
wicwic
  wot+ R + > wotwot "chiefs"
  p–ay + R + > payay "your daughters"
as well as longer words that have a glottalized consonant somewhere in the middle:
  k–uak + R > kukuak "I keep spilling [things]" I keep spilling things
kukuak
  p–icis + R + > picpicis "your younger brothers and sisters"
  s–uli + R > ululi "he/she keeps holding it"
  s–iy–talik + R + > sitaltalik "their wives"  
Here's an example — perfectly regular — in which  l  loses its glottalization in the first  CVC sequence but is immediately followed by another glottal stop.
  ulam + R > ululam "creeks, streams"  
The first  l  is this reduplicated expression is part of a sequence of  l  plus glottal stop — l — but it's not  glottalized, or else you'd hear the glottal stop before it and it wouldn't have a whispered quality.

Top