CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION - Reduplication

the word initial segment. This is illustrated as following by the author:
#--> k --> æ --> t --> % = [k æ t k æ t]
Figure 2. Raimy's loop representation of kætkæt (Raimy 2000: 1)
Brief history of the research on reduplication
The phoneme loop is followed by a linearization process, which takes place during the
transfer of a phonological representation to the articulatory system. The result is a serial
sequence of base and reduplicant.
For serial based theories the examples of overapplication or underapplication where the
reduplicant affects the phonological appearance of the base are the biggest problem (cf. for
example McCarthy and Prince 1995: 41). In Raimy's model these cases do not cause
problems, since in the loop representation the base has the same phonological environment as
the reduplicant, which regularly triggers a phonological change (or not) in both units.
Therefore Raimy rejects the necessity of concepts such as "overapplication" and
"underapplication" being not necessary in a theory of reduplication. In his view, the
phenomenon that is described by these terms is simply an effect of opacity, resulting from the
linearization process of the loop (for details cf. Raimy 2000: 16-23).
Raimy (2000) tries to find a solution to the problems which are not satisfactorily solved by
other theories of reduplication. However, for this aim he has to interpret reduplication as a
phonological readjustment rule, following a zero-affixation. There is no evidence which
would justify the assumption of such a zero-affixation, but this is only a tool, introduced by
Raimy, in order to be able to treat the morphological means of reduplication on a purely
phonological level. As already mentioned, the purely phonological view on reduplication is
the big weakness of all of the mentioned generative approaches. As an answer to this, Inkelas
and Zoll (2005) have developed an alternative model which makes allowance for the
morphological nature of reduplication.
4.2.6 An alternative approach: The Morphological Doubling Theory (MDT)
Inkelas and Zoll (2005) view reduplication as a purely morphological construction whose
"daughters" are constrained to be morphosemantically identical. 24 The two daughters are both
24 Inkelas and Zoll's "daughters" are usually labeled "reduplicant" and "base" in other theories. The "mother"
18