Reduplication, Expressives, and Echo-Formation in Hajong

This paper is an attempt to document and investigate the reduplication in Hajong. Hajong is an IndoAryan language spoken in Bangladesh and Indian northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh. The present study is based on the data collected from 12 Hajong speakers of the Goalpara district of Assam. Reduplication is a widespread phenomenon that is common in the languages of Southeast Asia. However, grammarians have ignored this phenomenon primarily because they follow the Western grammar description model, where reduplicated structures do not exist or are rare (Abbi, 1992). The aim is to study the reduplicated structures, expressive and echo-formation and its semantic aspects in Hajong. There are mainly two types of reduplicated structures in Hajong: Morphological reduplication and Lexical reduplication. The morphological reduplication is expressed through expressive. “Expressive behave and function like regular words and thus form a part of the lexicons of Indian languages” (Abbi, 2018). The semantics of expressive morphology in Hajong represent five senses of perception, states of mind and manner of an action, and kinship terminology. However, lexical reduplication is constructed through the process of echo-formation (partial reduplication), compound, and complete word reduplication. Echo-word Formation acquires the status of a meaningful element only after it is attached to a word (Abbi, 1992). Echo formation is formed by replacing the initial consonant sound in the reduplicant. The common replacer sounds in Hajong are /ʧ͡/, /t/, /th/ /m/, and /s/. The semantics of Hajong's echo formation represent generality, plurality, intensity, and sets or types.


Introduction
Hajong is the least documented endangered language that is spoken by the small minority group living in Bangladesh and India. In India, Hajong people are mostly living in Meghalaya, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh (Moseley, 2010). From the analysis under the UNESCO's classification of an endangered language, Hajong can be put under the level of unsafe language -where most children speak the language; but it may be restricted to the home domain. According to the 2011 Indian Census Report, Hajong mother-tongue speakers in Assam has a population of 27,521.

Reduplication
Reduplication is a widespread phenomenon that is common in the languages of Southeast Asia. Reduplication refers to the repetition of all or a part of a lexical item carrying a semantic modification (Abbi, 1992). Words formed by duplicating syllables or by duplicating a part or all of a word (phonological word) are instances of reduplication (Abbi, 2001). The following are the canonical subtypes of reduplicative structures in languages.
Total reduplication: Complete reduplication is the stem or word repetition with minimal or no phonological changes (Inkelas & Zoll 2005). For example in Hajong and Boro total reduplication can also be in the form of expressive and lexical reduplication.

Analysis of result
Hajong's reduplication is formed by partially or completely repeating syllables or repeating whole words. The types of reduplicated structures in Hajong comprised of the following: 1. Morphological reduplication and 2. Lexical reduplication

Morphological reduplication
According to Abbi (1992) morphological reduplication are "minimally meaningful and segmentally indivisible morphemes which are constituted of iterated syllables ..where the base and the iterated part together constitute a single morpheme which is also a lexeme" For example in Hajong: (7) a. ʧ ͡ alak-ʧ ͡ alak 'lightening' b. moneŋ-moneŋ 'small' c. sek-seka 'pale' d. pek-peka 'wet' e. bʰur-bʰurɯ 'coarse' In most cases, the iterated part is added with a vowel in the word-final position of reduplicant and changed the syllable structure from monosyllabic CVC to disyllabic form CVCV. Adding the vowel in the word-final position of the reduplicated stem conveys some degree of intensification to the hearer. Abbi (1992) further elaborated the instances of morphological reduplication through onomatopoeic constructions, imitative, sound symbolism, and mimic words on the ground that the entire structure repeated here represents a particular meaning without allowing morphological deletion.

Expressive begins with an initial consonant
Most of the expressive in Hajong begins with the initial consonant. Whenever there is a vowel at the beginning of the word, the reduplicated stem begins with a consonant as in the example (8).
If a base begins with a vowel, then the first phoneme in the reduplicant is /b/ or /n/ Expressive is reduplicated either partially or completely Expressives are mostly reduplicated in Hajong either partially or completely. The syllable structure of Hajong expressive is mostly monosyllabic. Sometimes a disyllabic pattern is also noticeable.

Vowel alternation
The high vowel /i/ changes to the low vowel /ɑ/ in the word-final position of the reduplicant.

Consonant alternation
Consonant alternation is found in the initial syllable of the reduplicated stem. A consonant sound changes to stop /b/ and lateral /l/ if followed by any vowel.

Vowel addition
The addition of the vowel /ɑ/ in the word-final position of a reduplicated stem is one of the dominant patterns in Hajong expressive. (14) a. ʧ ͡ ok ʧ ͡ okɑ' brightly'

Acoustic noises
Expressive also describe acoustic noises, movements, emotions, etc. The acoustic noises mostly common in Hajong are the noises of the animal cry, noises of natural phenomena, noises made by humans, and noises made by miscellaneous inanimate objects.

Noises of animal cry
The different acoustic noises are expressed in reduplicating the acoustic noises of the animal cry as in the examples 21 ( a-b) kʰa-kʰa 'cry of crow' meo-meo 'cry of a cat' hou-hou 'cry of a dog' ʧ ͡ ir-ʧ ͡ ir ʧ ͡ ʰar-ʧ ͡ ʰar 'cry of a Myna'.

Noises of natural phenomena
The expressive acoustic noises of natural phenomena are expressed in the following complete reduplication.

Noises made by miscellaneous inanimate objects
Expressives noises made by miscellaneous objects are the following:

Sense of sight
This expressive in Hajong is used to express a sense of sight such as the sparkling or glittering sight of the objects. For example /tipik-tapak/' shining of a bulb',/ʧ ͡ olʧ ͡ ola/'shinning of a white roof',

Sense of touch
This expressive is used in Hajong to express a sense of feeling while touching. This is expressed in a partial and complete reduplicated form, as in the examples from (32 a-c) given below.

Sense of taste
This expressive is used in Hajong to express the sense and degree of taste in a complete reduplicated form, as in example (33)

Sense of smell
The complete reduplication of expressive is used in Hajong to express the sense of good or bad smell. As in the example (34) a. /moho-moho/ 'tasty smell', b./mohe-mohe/ 'good smell', c. bikli-bakla 'bad smelling'

Lexical reduplication
Lexical reduplication refers to a complete or partial repetition of a word (Abbi, 2001). Lexical reduplication is further divided into echo formation, compound, and word reduplication.

Complete word reduplication (CWR)
Word reduplication is divided into complete and partial reduplication. Partial reduplication is referred to a structure in which a word/stem/root or sentence is repeated only once in a sentence without any morphological change (Abbi, 1992). From the functional point of view, complete word reduplication can be further divided into Class maintaining and Class changing.

Class maintaining CWR
A complete word reduplication that holds a class is a word that remains in the same grammar class after duplication (Abbi, 1992). Class maintaining CWR in Hajong can be reduplicated to the grammatical category of noun, pronoun, adjective, etc. (35) a. ɡʰɔr 'house' ɡʰɔr-ɡʰɔr 'each and every house' For example, the adjective /huru/ 'small' doesn't change the grammatical class in a sentence as in 44. (a) where the semantic meaning emphasizes 'small' to 'very small' though both share the same grammatical class. Examples from 44. (b-d) don't change the grammatical class in a sentence however use inflections to convey a grammatical function as plurality, the semantic function of exclusiveness as in (b-c) and the semantic function of distribution as in (e).

Class changing CWR
Class changing complete word reduplication refers to those constructions where reduplicated structure enters a grammatical class different from that of its non-reduplicated base (Abbi, 1992). Class changing CWR in Hajong is seen in 45. ( a) adjective changes to an adverb, (b) verb changes to the reduplicated verbal adverb.
(45) a. mola mao -ra aste aste -ke bʰat kai My mother DEF slowly RED ADVLZ rice eat 'My mother eats her food slowly (slowly).' b. hapal-la bohite bohite hurɯn hu-se child-DEF sit sit impf. tire get PFV 'The child got tired of sitting (for a long time)' Reduplicated verbal adverbs in conjunction with main verbs indicate significant aspectual categories. The word order allows reduplicated verbal adverbs to proceed with the main verb. Abbi (1992) states that " Simultaneity identifies the synchronization of two events or actions (non-states) at a particular time which in turn may signal:

Simultaneity
i. completion of both events or actions at the same time (Type A) ii. protraction of one of the events/actions (Type B), iii. continuity of two events for a certain period (Type C)" Simultaneity Aspect Type A X Y Figure 2 Simultaneity Type A (Abbi, 1992) The figure represents the simultaneity of two punctual verbs in which X represents the reduplicated verbal adverb (RVADV) and Y as the MV. shows the simultaneity between two punctual and completive verbs. Simultaneity Aspect Type B Abbi (1992) describes a situation where RVADV is not-punctual and MV is punctual. In the example (47 a,b) RVADV ʤ ͡ a-ite 'go-impf' ko-ite 'say-impf' is non-punctual and the MV pori ʤ ͡ a-se 'fell down' bɯrɯ-le 'come-PST' is punctual therefore one of the action/events is protracted.

Non-precipitation
In non-precipitation "the main action or events, represented by Main verb (y) occurs on the verge of operation of another event or action manifested in a Reduplicated verbal adverb (x) and put a stop to the operation of (x) and (x) never takes place" (Abbi, 1992 'It was about to rain but did not.' b. hapal-la upur tʰikiɯ porte porte basi ʤ ͡ a-le child -DEF above from fall fall impf. save go-PST 'The child was about to fall from the stairs but did not'

Continuation-Duration
Continuation or duration suggests continuation or duration of an event/movement for a brief or a protracted duration of time (Abbi, 1992). Continuative of an event might be indicated by a reduplicated verbal adverb and by employing the main verb its reduplicated form (Abbi, 1992

Iterative
The iterative aspects refer to the concept of events or actions that occur repeatedly at short time intervals (Abbi, 1992). (52) a. kapur-rɯ doaite doaite pari ʤ ͡ a-se cloth DEF wash wash impf. torn go -PFV 'Clothes got torn off by extensive washing'

Echo Formations
Echo words have been defined as partially repeated forms (initial phoneme/syllable) of base words and duplicator is a standard form of slightly alternating copies of basic words (Abbi, 2018). EF has no individual appearance in the language or its meaning but only gets the status of meaningful elements when added to a word (Abbi, 1992). Hajong's EF is formed by replacing the initial consonant (or the initial syllable) of a word without changing the canonical form of the base word. In Hajong the common replacer consonant sounds are: /ʧ ͡ / /t/, /tʰ/ /m/ and /s/.
A consonant sound changes into /ʧ ͡ / when it is followed by a vowel.

Compounds
Compound words are also a subtype of lexical replication. Two independent words combine to form a new word, which is one of the important word-forming processes in language, called compounding (Abbi, 2011). Compounds refer to paired structures, where the second word is not an exact repetition of the first word but has some similarity or relationship to the first word at the semantic or phonetic level and a component element of the compound loses its primary meaning and gains a new reference Abbi (1992). Following are the example of compound words used in Hajong.

Discussion
The article begins with Hajong's reduplication and reduplicated structure. Hajong's reduplication structure consists of both morphological and lexical reduplications. Morphological reduplication is expressed by expressiveness. Expressiveness is studied as a general term for ideophone, onomatopoeia, mimics, imitation, and sound symbols. Expressiveness represents five sensory sensations, states of mind, manner of action, and semantic categories of kinship terms. The main features of Hajong expressive are: a. Hajong's expressive form a single lexeme or word and consist of repeated syllables. Each syllable cannot be displayed separately.
b. Expressive in Hajong is usually reduplicated.
c. The representation of expressive in Hajong can take the form of a complete or partial reduplication.
d. It mainly starts with a consonant.
e. An expressive undergoes vowels and consonant change in the process of reduplication.
f. There is a process of phoneme addition in an iterated syllable or stem of the reduplicant Hajong's expressive conveys all five senses: sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste. Expressive also describes acoustic noises, movements, emotions, and more. In lexical reduplication, reduplicated verbal adverbs combined with main verbs represent significant aspectual categories in Hajong such as simultaneity, non-precipitation, continuation-duration and iteration.

The syntactic characteristics of lexical reduplication in Hajong include
The perfective participle is also frequently reduplicated as in the example below: (62) a. moi ɡʰur-iɯ ɡʰur-iɯ oi ɡʰor -ra dek -ise The adverbial imperfective conjunctive participle /-(i)te/ is mostly reduplicated (63) a. kota ko-ite ko-ite ola ʧ ͡ uk diɯ pani bɯrɯ-se word say-ICP RED she eye from water come-PFV 'While she was talking tears came from her eyes.' Echo formation is formed by replacing the initial consonant sound in the reduplicant and the replacer sounds are: /ʧ ͡ / /t/, /tʰ/ /m/, and /s/ in Hajong. Like other Indian languages, in Hajong vowel alternation (i.e., from ɯ > i and ɑ > i in the word-final position) is another strategy that is followed in forming echo words. (Abbi, 2018) states that the semantic field of EFs can be represented as a cluster of semantic components. All the South Asian languages share these features. The structure and its associated meaning have a one-to-one correspondence giving systematic iconicity across the languages.

Generality and plurality
This construction of echo-formation indicates generality and plurality. EFs in Hajong represent generality and plurality such as buksuli-tuksuli 'clothes and related items', ʧ ͡ a-ta 'tea and related items'. Abbi (2018) states that all South Asian languages under the Himalayan region, except for the Tibeto-Burman and Tai Kadai, share these semantic structures EF, suggesting the areal nature of the structures.

Superordinate structures
Echo formation can create higher-level(superordinate) structures with many subordinates. For example, in Hajong the collective nouns kɔlom-sɔlom 'pen and related items' means "stationary object" and is not necessarily limited to "writing tool" only.

Increase the intensity
Echo Formations increases the intensity of echo construction with a vowel replacement process as in Hajong likʰa-likʰi 'writing and such', boha-bohi 'sitting and such'.

Non-specific reference
In non-specific reference also Echo-formations are using in Hajong as dudʰnɔi -tutʰnɔi 'town and any other town'.

Conclusion
The study of reduplication is an integral part of grammar in all Indian languages. Hajong, as one of the Indo-Aryan language families, shared these areal features of South Asian languages. Reduplicated structures in Hajong