Iconicity ot modified reduplication in five Himalayan languages

Although the iconicity of reduplication has been addressed by many researchers, not enough attention has been paid to the distinct character of modified reduplication in opposition to full reduplication. Modified reduplication is here defined as the juxtaposition of two similar but not identical phonological forms which differ in vowel quality (e.g. English chit-chat, Lhasa Tibetan zam zom ‘careless work’, Tshangla napanopo ‘silly’) or in initial consonant (e.g. English hotchpotch, Lhasa Tibetan ’a la ma la ‘confused, unconnected, irregular’). This paper describes the uses of modified reduplication in five languages spoken in the Himalayas: Central Tibetan (bod), Denjongke (sip, Tibetic), Lhomi (lhm, Tibetic), Tshangla (tsj, Sino-Tibetan, Bodish) and Duhumbi (cvg, Kho-Bwa). The data, which come both from published sources (Bodt 2020, Naga & Rigzin 1994, Yliniemi 2021, Nitartha online dictionary of Tibetan) and heretofore unpublished material, show that modified reduplication in the aforementioned languages is associated with four types of iconicity: (1) duality/plurality of similar but not identical sounds (e.g. Denjongke tʽaŋtʽiŋ ‘cling clang’), (2) duality/plurality of similar but not identical items (e.g. Denjongke dakdok ‘occurring as an assortment of small items of various sizes’), (3) duality/plurality of similar but not identical locations (e.g. Tibetan thar thor ‘scattered’), also suggesting motion between locations (e.g. Tibetan lang ling ‘drifting, swinging’), and (4) nonnormativity arising from the comparison of two similar but non-identical forms (e.g. Tshangla thapathopo ‘slow-witted’, zhalangzholong ‘shapeless; useless [of people]’). In four of the five languages (others than Lhomi) a~o vowel modification is strongly associated with nonnormativity.