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Reduplication, which is the partial or complete repetition of a syllable, can be used in Hiaki to communicate a number of functions, including habitual actions, actions that are in progress, or simply to convey emphasis. This can be seen in the following examples:
Habitual:
Itepo hunum keke’ewe.
itepo hunum ke-ke’ewe
we there reduplicant-gather.firewood
“We gather firewood there”
Progressive:
Uu hamut toto’i kavam bwabwata.
uu hamut toto’i kava-m bwa-bwata
the woman chicken egg-plural reduplicant-stir
“The woman is mixing the eggs.”
Emphatic:
Katee uka soto’ita hunum mamana.
katee uka soto’i-ta hunum ma-mana
not-you the.acc pot-acc there reduplicant-put
“Don’t put that pot there.”
Noun-incorporation in Hiaki involves the combination of a noun with a verb to create a compound word that then behaves like a verb. See the example below:
Peo masopeutek.
Peo maso-peu-te-k
Peo deer-butcher-intr-pfv
“Peo deer-butchered.”
Of course, you can express the same idea in Hiaki without using noun-incorporation.
Peo masota peutak.
Peo maso-ta peu-ta-k
Peo deer-acc butcher-tran-pfv
“Peo butchered a deer.”
However, if you do use noun-incorporation, then you can’t put anything between the noun and the verb, but you can still reduplicate the verb:
Peo masopeupeute.
Peo maso-peu-peute
Peo deer-reduplicant-butcher
“Peo is always deer-butchering.”
This paper considers how reduplication and noun-incorporation interact with each other in Hiaki and investigates how different linguistic theories can or cannot account for this phenomenon.