Smarkaka!
Shaja gastiya samkway dahamas. Na Winja warshtas warhamas, tu, ya rahi Winja dangwa-su aw-awam, sis warhamas: “reduplication.”
(Today we’ll be doing something a bit different. We’ll not be talking about a Wenja word, instead we’ll be talking about a thing in the Wenja language I like the most: “reduplication”).
What is reduplication? Reduplication is the doubling of a word (to be more exact, a morpheme) to give the word a bit more “oomph” in grammar or meaning.
Example from English: “home” vs. “home home”:
I’m going home home = I’m going to where I grew up.
I’m going home = I’m going to where I live currently.
Wenja uses reduplication A LOT, both in verbs and adjectives. To give an example from the game, Ull says: “Kwadi mari-marimas?” (Why do we keep on dying?)
If he had said “Kwadi marimas?” this would not indicate the fact that the Udam continually die.
As for adjectives, perhaps my favorite example comes from Tensay (I think I’m remembering this correctly) : “pal-palhu Udam fakwi… shuta daba-dabu” (too many Udam eyeballs… or too few).
Wow, that was interesting 🙂 So do we speak about allomorphs when the prononounciation changes like in daba-dabu or mari-marimas?
Yes, they're absolutely allomorphs. You'll note that when the Wenja reduplicate they'll make the "reduplicant" (the thing reduplicated) have two "morae" or timing units, hence pal-palhu & daba-dabu (not pa-palhu or da-dabu). If you're wondering why it's not dab-dabu, that's because Wenja words can't end in sounds like [b].
Gwarshta! Can't wait to learn more!!