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

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The syntax of intensifiers in Muishaung

 | University of Zürich | La Trobe University
Published online: 28 August 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.19002.dam
Abstract
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 ( (n.d.). Unpublished Muishaung sketch grammar.; Van Dam, Kellen Parker. 2018. A cross-varietal description of modifiers of basic colour terms in Tangsa-Nocte. In Linda Konnerth, Stephen D. Morey & Amos Teo (eds.), North East Indian Linguistics 81, 47–64. Asia-Pacific Linguistics Open Access. Canberra: Australian National University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), 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.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Syntax of intensifiers
  • 3.Types of reduplication in Muishaung
  • 4.Exceptions
  • 5.Partial list of intensifiers
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (8)
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