148 Chapter 5 Reduplication
compound or the entire compound undergoes total reduplication.
(70) gula bato ‘lump sugar’ gula bato-gula bato ‘lumps of lump sugar’
reng towa ‘parents’ reng towa-reng towa ‘parents’
Total reduplication of reng towa can be attributed to avoidance of ambiguity.
The form oreng towa means ‘old person’. With final syllable reduplication, the
resulting form is reng-(o)reng towa ‘old people’. The conventionalized whole-
word reduplication of reng towa-reng towa prevents misinterpretation.