CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION - Reduplication

A short grammar sketch of Bikol
bilabial consonant, /�/ and the consonant fuse to /m/. bakal 'buy': mang + bakal --> mamakal
'to go shopping'. When attached to a base with an initial /s/, /�/ and /s/ fuse to /n/. sublí'
'borrow': mang + sublí' --> manublí' 'to go around borrowing'. When attached to a base with
an initial /k/ or /h/, /�/ and the initial consonant fusion to /�/. ha'bón 'to steal': mang + ha'bón
--> manga'bón 'to go around stealing'. When attached to any other consonant, no assimilation
takes place: ta'ó 'to give' --> mang + ta'ó --> mangta'ó 'to give away things generally' (cf.
Mintz 2004: 35-36). However, these phonological processes apparently are subject to some
variation. For example in my corpus I found the form nangubod 'to generally believe', from
tubod 'believe'. Following the rule given by Mintz (2004), it should have the form nang-
tubod. Regional variation might be a reason for these inconsistencies, but also factors such as
speech tempo or speech style.
2.1.3 /h/-epenthesis
If a vowel initial suffix is attached to a vowel final base, /h/ is inserted between base and
suffix (in some Bikol dialects a glottal stop instead of the fricative is inserted). For example
totoo 'true' + nominalizing ka- -an --> ka-totoo-han 'truth' (cf. example (61)), ma-ogma
'happy' + intensifying -on--> ma-ogma-hon 'very happy' (cf. example (67)), or duwa 'two' +
limitative CV- -e --> du~duwa-he 'exactly two' (cf. example (81)).
2.1.4 /r/ and /l/
/r/ and /l/ are distinct phonemes of Bikol. There are for example the minimal pairs: ragos 'to
lack steps (a ladder or stair)' vs. lagos 'to tie s.th.', dalas 'quick' vs. daras 'piece of fish/slice of
meat'. Both phonemes are reconstructed to as early as PAN by Dahl (1976: 101). However, /r/
and /l/ in the Philippine languages undergo widespread variation. There are many lexemes in
related languages and dialects which only differ by the selection of /r/ and /l/. For example
kalabasa (Tag.) vs. karabasa (Bik.) 'pumpkin', dalaga (Tag.) vs. daraga (Bik.) 'maiden,
young lady', etc. But also within one language /r/ and /l/ are exchanged in certain
circumstances. One example is the metathesis of /r/ and /l/ in case of -Vr- plural infixation 33 .
Whenever the plural -Vr-infix is applied to a /l/-initial word, the metathesis takes place. E.g.
luto ‘cook’ (--> *l-ur~uto) --> r-ul~uto ‘cook, pl.’, layog 'fly' (--> *l-ar~ayog) --> r-al~ayog
33 For explanation of the -Vr-plural infix see IV.4.1.4.
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