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Proto-Dynic: Difference between revisions
→Reduplication
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Reduplication can also be used with uncountable or collective nouns to refer to large or otherwise extreme or emphatic versions of a noun. The same is true of adjectives: | Reduplication can also be used with uncountable or collective nouns to refer to large or otherwise extreme or emphatic versions of a noun. The same is true of adjectives: | ||
* ''*sêl'' ('the ocean') → ''*sesêl'' ('the vast ocean') | * ''*sêl'' ('the ocean') → ''*sesêl'' ('the vast ocean') | ||
* ''* | * ''*hur-sí'' ('tall, high') → ''*huhur-sí'' ('very tall, very high') | ||
* ''* | * ''*ʔə̄c-sí'' ('large, big') → ''*ʔəʔə̄c-sí'' ('huge, enormous') | ||
Occasionally a reduplicated term may carry both of these meanings. For example, ''*kekél'' may have the plural meaning 'islands,' or the collective 'land, all the islands, great island, continent.' | Occasionally a reduplicated term may carry both of these meanings. For example, ''*kekél'' may have the plural meaning 'islands,' or the collective 'land, all the islands, great island, continent.' | ||