142 Chapter 5 Reduplication
(43) Amir bunga tape gi' paggun sa-ma-sossa.
Amir happy but still still RED-AV.CS-sad
‘Amir is happy but still pretends to be sad.’
While bu-malabu and sa-masossa can be interpreted as normal causatives
meaning ‘cause more than one to fall’ and ‘cause more than one to be sad’, re-
spectively, they most frequently are not interpreted in this way. The sentences
in (42) and (43) admit only the pretending interpretation because of the use of
the counterfactual conjunction tape ‘but’.
3.1.4 Reduplication of adjectives
As adjectives are a subcategory of verbs, the functions of reduplication of adjec-
tives are in many respects similar to other verbs. The primary functions of the
reduplication of adjectives is to denote plurality of the entities possessing the
adjectival property and for emphasis. The examples in (44-46) denote plurality.
(44) Koceng ros-koros rowa ngeco' tang juko'.
cat RED-thin that AV.steal my fish
‘Those skinny cats stole my fish.’
(45) Dheng mare a-massa' pas e-kakan, nyang-kennyang.
while finish AV-cook then OV-eat RED-full
‘When they finished cooking, they ate until they were full.’
(46) Panglima perrang-nga padha lak-pelak mon a-perrang.
commander war-DEF same RED-skilled if AV-war
‘Both commanders were skilled at waging war.’
In (44) reduplication of the attributive adjective koros ‘thin’ indicates that it is
more than one cat that steals the fish. In (45), which is part of a narrative, the
subject is understood to be the troops of an army; the reduplication of the adjec-
tival predicate kennyang ‘full’ indicates the plurality of the subject. And in (46),
which is part of the same narrative, reduplication of pelak ‘skilled’ reflects the
fact that panglima perrang ‘commander’ is plural.
While an element of emphasis may be included in some of these, exam-
ples of adjectival reduplication for emphasis are (47-48), where the subject is
singular.
(47) Pottre-na din-raddin.
princess-DEF RED-pretty
‘The princess is very pretty.’