Ablaut Reduplication in Javanese

Abstract

This study offers new insights into ablaut reduplication in Javanese (hereafter Javanese ablaut), such as these examples: /tʃorak-tʃorek/ ‘to draw line aimlessly; doodle’, /elar-elur/ ‘to march in a long procession’, /liwaŋ-liwuŋ/ ‘extensive and dense jungle’, /gonta-ganti/ ‘to take turns, by turns; to keep changing back and forth’, (Robson and Wibisono 2002). Using an expanded data set of over 600 examples of ablaut reduplication, the largest dataset of Javanese ablaut to date, this study broadens our understanding of both its semantic meanings and its phonological patterns. It expands the list of semantic categories of Javanese ablaut, which prior to the present work was defined as only ‘habitual repetitive’ (Dudas 1976, Kenstowicz 1986, and Yip 1995) and ‘negative feelings’ (Miyake 2011). Regarding phonological patterns, this data confirms that Javanese ablaut prefers an /a/ in the reduplicant if the base includes any other vowel; however, the data points to a preference for high vowels in the reduplicant if the base contains an /a/, while previous research suggested a preference for the mid vowel /e/ (Dudas 1976, Kenstowicz 1986, and Yip 1995). Finally, it suggests a connection between this preference for high vowels and a newly identified ‘back-and-forth’ semantic category.