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Article published In:
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area
Vol. 43:1 (2020) ► pp.19–36

The syntax of intensifiers in Muishaung

| University of Zürich | La Trobe University

The Tangsa-Nocte languages of the India/Myanmar border region employ a system of suffixes to modify descriptive words. These may be reduplicated under certain conditions, determined by the stress patterns of the larger utterance. Previously referred to as intensifiers (Morey n.d.; van Dam 2018), these affixes modify their stems to cover a wide range of different meanings, with each stem having a limited and sometimes unique set of applicable modifiers. Such intensifiers are found throughout the Pangwa varieties of Tangsa-Nocte and occur with the majority of basic adjectives derived from monosyllabic verbal stems.

Keywords: Tibeto-Burman, Tangsa, Northern Naga, Muishaung, Mossang, intensifiers, reduplication, syntax
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Syntax of intensifiers
  • 3.Types of reduplication in Muishaung
  • 4.Exceptions
  • 5.Partial list of intensifiers
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 28 August 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.19002.dam
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