Download - Consonant dissimilation in Maori
CONSONANT DISSIMll.A TION IN MAORI
RAy HARLOW
1 . INTRODUCTION
Visible from much of the eastern Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand is an island, which lies just off the city of Whakatane. It reminds one of a whale, at least at a distance, and in recognition of this bears the name Moutohora, of which the English name 'Whale Island' is a translation. The name is derived from tohora 'whale' and mou, a form of the word motu ' island' which otherwise occurs to the best of my knowledge, only in another island name, Moutoki, and in the compound moutere 'island' (according to informants and to Williams ( 197 1 ), the form motutere also occurs). The temptation to see the form mou- in all three of these words as the result of a complete dissimilation of the t in motu is of course great, and this paper is an attempt to explore the implications of the postulation of such a process for Maori. In the course of this exploration, I will make some proposals about the process itself, but also about some otherwise puzzling aspects of Maori morphology.!
Another word which shows a similar variation is the 'tribal prefix' ngai - ngiiti, which occurs in very many tribal names, and means originally something like 'the descendants, the elan (0£)'. It is striking that, with one exception, the form ngai occurs only before names beginning with t, for example, Ngaimhu, Ngaitai, Ngai Te Rangi, and so on. The same prefix appears in the expressions ngiii tiiua 'the-elan-of us.INCL.DU' and ngai tiitou 'the-elan-of us.INCL.PL', used by Maori to refer to the race as a collective.
There are two kinds of counterexample to the conclusion that here as well dissimilation has led to the allomorphy; however, an account can be given of these which does not necessitate the abandonment of the proposed analysis.
Firstly, there are many tribal names where the form Ngiiti is followed by t, for example, Ngiiti Tiiwharetoa, Ngiiti Tai, Ngiiti Toa. Secondly, there is the expression ngai miiua 'the-clan-of us.EXCL.DU' (Williams 197 1 : ngiiJ) alongside the 'expected' ngiiti miiua. An explanation of these counterexamples which is consistent with the allomorphy's having arisen through a phonological process would point to the fact that the process was never more than optional (cf. moutere - motutere above), and to the close connection between the two sets of expressions involving 1 st person nonsingular pronouns. The tribal names in T- which nonetheless have Ngiiti as the prefix are simply exceptions to an optional process, and the form ngai miiua is analogical.
1 Many thanks to Jeffrey Waite, who read an earlier version and made very helpful comments.
Robert Blust, ed. Currents in PacifIC linguistics: papers on Austronesian languages and ethnolinguistics in honour of George W. Grace, 1 17 -128. PacifIC Linguistics. C-1 17. 1991. <i:> Ray Harlow 1 17
Harlow, R. "Consonant dissimilation in Maori". In Blust, R. editor, Currents in Pacific Linguistics: Papers on Austronesian languages and ethnolinguistics in honour of George W. Grace. C-117:117-128. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1991. DOI:10.15144/PL-C117.117 ©1991 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative.
1 1 8 RAY HARLOW
Similar remarks can be made about another morpheme which shows comparable variation of form. The Proto Polynesian prefIx *faka- 'causative' appears in Maori in two forms: whaka-, far and away the more frequent form, and a variant, whii-. Some examples: whakainu, whiiinu ' to give to drink', whakakoekoe, whiikoekoe 'tickle'. I propose that this variation is also ultimately the result of the same process of consonant dissimilation, and that the counterexamples (see below) are the result of the process' s being optional and of analogical extension of the domain of the originally phonologically conditioned allomorph.
Precisely similar alternations in the form of this prefIx occur in related languages, though there they are restricted to the originally conditioning environments. For example Fijian: vaka- > viibefore velars, cf. Anns (1989); Hawaiian: ho'o- > ho- before a glottal stop « k), Elbert and Pukui ( 1979:76).2 However, in Maori, not only does the form whaka- also occur before k, the form whiioccurs before sounds other than k.
Since the process being invoked here was optional, doublets were produced in precisely similar environments. This outcome was exploited by Maori on occasion in order to disambiguate homophones. One sometimes fInds homophonous roots selecting different forms of the causative prefix, for example, whiikuru 'pelt' < kuru 'pelt' but whakakuru 'weary' < kuru 'weary ' , whiingongo 'administer liquid food to someone' < ngongo 'suck' but whakangongo 'neglect, pay no attention' < ngongo ' low born'. If the process leading to the allomorphy was 'opaque' in this way, there was nothing to prevent the analogical application of whii- to other contexts. Appendix I contains all the whii- forms I have been able to find.
What these three alternations have in common can be formulated as the following optional process: CI V#CI V�V#CI V, where # is some kind of morphological boundary, CI is k or t, and the deleted C is not word initial. In all the cases looked at so far, the dissimilated C is at least three morre3 from the end of the word.4
2. PASSIVES
Granting the existence of such a process, and leaving aside the question of its status as a rule, an historical change, etc., it is of interest to see whether it plays a role in other alternations as well. Since Maori phonotactics do not admit consonant clusters, the effect of the dissimilation process is always to bring together two vowels otherwise separated by a single consonant. If these are two like vowels, they become a single long vowel by the process of syllabification,5 as in whaka- versus whiiabove.
One group of forms which are puzzling but which gain an explanation if viewed as instances of the dissimilation process consists of the passives of reduplicated verbs. A frequent pattern is exemplified by the pair: pupuhi - piihia 'to blow or shoot, to be blown or shot' , and a full list of the verbs which follow the pattern is given in Appendix 2. Accommodating this pattern under the proposed consonant dissimilation entails:
2In fact, the situation in Hawaiian is more complicated, cf. Elbert and Pukui. 3For the applicability of the notion mora to Maori phonology, cf. Bauer (1981). 4 A few other isolated examples are suggestive: matatau - matau 'know', matatangata - matanuata 'a univalve mollusc',
araraki _ piiraki 'land wind'. b
�Many of the examples adduced below raise interesting questions about the correct account of Maori syllabification. Suffi�e it to mention here that these examples support the analysis of surface long vowels as (underlyingly) a sequence of two like vowels.
CONSONANT DISSIMILATION IN MAORI 1 19
(a) accepting that the process applies to consonants other than just t and k;
(b) accepting that the process is mirror-image, that is, that CIV#CIV � CI V#V also occurs (note that the distance of the dissimiland is still at least three mora! from the end, indeed, that is what prevents dissimilation in the active form);
(c) accepting that the passive of pupuhi is underlyingly pupuhia;
(d) accepting that there is some sort of boundary following a reduplication syllable.
As is well known, universally it is liquids and nasals which tend to provide the majority of examples of dissimilation, both partial, as in Spanish hombre < Latin hominem, or complete, as in French faible < Latin flebilem. Thus, if in a language k and t undergo some dissimilation process, it is not only to be expected that p will also undergo it, but also that the more ' sonorous' classes of consonant will undergo it as well, and if possible to a higher degree. Again, from a universal perspective, bidirectionality of dissimilation processes should not surprise, cf. the examples already quoted.
Passive verbs in Maori are generally formed by the addition of a suffix of the general shape -Cia,6 a very frequent allomorph of which is -a, for example, patu - patua 'strike', horoi - horoia 'wash' . This and the other allomorphs of -Cia show some preference as to the shape of stem to which they are appended, however, it is easy to find examples of the use of -a suffixed to stems consisting of three unimoraic syllables, for example, takahi - takahia 'tread' . There is thus nothing in the way of postulating the underlying form *pupuhia,7 etc. for the passives in Appendix 2.
The postulation of a boundaryS of some kind cannot be directly justified in any non-circular way, since I am not aware of any process other than the dissimilation under discussion which is manifest in partially reduplicated forms. However, two points should be made in this connection.
(a) With the possible exception of two dubious cases to be mentioned below, I know of no instance of dissimilation within a stem. Thus, if the proposed analysis is correct, there is some kind of difference between the CI VCI sequence as part of a stem, and a CI VCI sequence in partial reduplication.
(b) There is some phonological indication that complete reduplication involves the insertion of boundaries. We will see later some evidence which suggests that at least some diphthongs in Maori are underlyingly disyllabic. If this is so, then there is a process which combines, for instance /$a$i/, to a monosyllabic diphthong /TJai/. This process is inhibited by some sort of boundary in exactly the cases where the a and the i are brought together by complete reduplication. Thus, piiinaina 'warm oneself, bask', with reduplication of the component ina is superficially pentasyllabic. Precisely the same effect is found in words derived by prefixation of whaka- to words beginning in i-, for example, whakairi 'hang up (vtr)', which is tetrasyllabic.
The two possible exceptions to the requirement that a boundary should intervene between the two consonants involved in the dissimilation are:
6This is the conventional abbreviation for the paradigm in Polynesian linguistics. 71 use the symbol * with systematic ambiguity to mean either 'reconstructed' as in 'Proto Polynesian *faka- '. cf. above, or simply 'unattested' as here. SAn alternative formulation of this is to claim (following Marantz's 1982 discussion of the interaction of reduplication and phonological rules) that our consonant deletion process is 'cyclic', a rule which applies only in derived contexts, but not entirely within a morpheme. .
1 20 RAY HARLOW
(a) kuku 'nip' , which has two passive forms: kukua, kfmgia. If the latter form is from *kukungia by the loss of the medial k through the process we are discussing, then either the process can occur within a stem, that is, the initial k has dissimilated the second, or the dissimilation has been conditioned by the fIJI of the suffix. Either event would require modification to the formulation of the process hazarded above.
(b) kiitai, 'mussel' in some dialects, may be a compound of kuku 'mussel' + tai 'sea'. If this etymology is correct and if the syllable kii from kuku exemplifies our dissimilation process, then this is a counterexample to the formulation requiring the presence of a boundary.
Neither of these cases being entirely clearcut, we will maintain the formulation given above for now.
There are two sorts of exception to the pattern: pupuhi - puma. In one kind, reduplicated stems have no reduplication in the passive form and no long vowel either. Examples of this include: litiro tirohia 'look at', momotu - motuhia 'sever', rarahu - rahua ' seize', tatau - tauia 'push (a sliding board, as door)' . Clearly, in cases of this kind, the passive is simply derived from the simplex underlying the active, rather than from the active form itself.
In cases of the other sort, non-reduplicated actives have passive forms with long vowels, such as rID - rlria 'be angry (with) ', whai - whaia 'follow', whakarere - whakarerea 'abandon'. Again, this would not seem an insurmountable problem for the approach ventured here. Such cases could be seen either as instances of simplex active versus reduplicated (plus dissimilated) passives or as instances of an analogical extension of an originally phonologically motivated long vowel pattern in passive forms.
Before leaving passive formation, there are three further active-passive pairs which deserve comment here. All three are quite idiosyncratic, yet may receive an explanation if viewed in the present context. They are: iirahi - arahina 'lead', tiki - tIkina 'go and get', and noho - nohia (also nohoia) 'sit, inhabit' . The last of these is in my view the most straightforward, the passive deriving from *noho-hia by loss of the first h. The deverbal noun nohanga can be derived in the same way from *noho-hanga. The alternative passive and nominalised forms (nohoanga) cannot be derived in a similar way from the same underlying forms without sacrificing the otherwise general requirement that the lost consonant is at least three mora: from the end of the word. This is no great difficulty, however, since the suffixes -ia and -anga as allomorphs of -Cia and -Canga, respectively, are widely attested. A number of explanations are available for the other two pairs of forms, and I am not aware of a way of choosing between them. The active iirahi with its odd long vowel may be from a-arahi, that is, a partial reduplication, the passive (and nominalisation, arahanga9) being from the simplex. More adventurously perhaps, the active may be a compound of ara 'way' and rahi 'big', and the passive simply ara-hina, hina being an allomorph of -Cia. That is, the syllables -hi- which occur in both active and passive forms may not be cognate! Another of the words for 'lead' is of this form, ara-taki, and two of the other words for 'way' are compounds involving adjectives meaning 'big', hua-nui (nui 'big') and hua-rahi (rahi 'big'). Finally, tlldna. Three accounts spring to mind.
(a) < *ti-tiki-na, i.e. passive is from the reduplicated form,
(b) the vowel is long by analogy, cf. above on rlria etc.,
(c) < *tiki-kina, this suffix being yet another allomorph of -Cia.
9 iirahi - arahanga belongs to a small set of verbs whose stem ends in an -i which is lost before the nominalising suffix. On these, cf. Williams (J97 1 :xxxvii) and Krupa (1966:54).
3. REDUPLICA nON
CONSONANT DISSIMILATION IN MAORI 1 2 1
Another major area of Maori phonology where alternations of long and short vowels occur is in reduplication. The forms and functions of reduplication in Maori constitute a radically underresearched area.lO This paper will not alter that situation to any great extent, but will only point to some formal features of reduplication which are superficially puzzling, and make some proposals about how to account for them.
In this discussion I shall be concentrating on the reduplication of trimoraic stems. The most common type of lexical stem in Maori is bimoraic, and undergoes both partial (initial underlying syllable) and complete (both underlying syllables) reduplication. Thus, from pald 'slap' come both papald and paldpald. There do exist however a very considerable number of trimoraic stems, which show a great variety of types of reduplication.
One of the puzzling aspects of the reduplication of longer stems in Maori is the existence of some doublets. Thus, corresponding to the simplex patai 'ask', there exist both pataitai and patapatai as frequentative forms. Krupa (1966) was aware of this and comments:
A variety of poly-vocalic words may be subdivided in two ways: ( 1 ) as consisting of a reduplicated root morpheme and a prefix, or (2) as consisting of a reduplicated root morpheme and a suffix. For instance hokai [sic, Williams 197 1 has hOkai, RBH] 'extended, far apart' may be regarded as composed of the prefix hoo- - ho- and the root kai (because hoo-kai-kai1 1 'extend and retract alternately' occurs), or as composed of the root hoka and the suffix -i (because hokahokai 'extend' occurs as well). (1966:33)
He explains the patai set in the same way.
Whether or not it is correct that a language can on a regular basis assign competing analyses to words, it is not in fact necessary to postulate a complex structure for stems of this type. Just as the more common bimoraic stems have more than one pattern of reduplication, partial and complete, available for their expansion, so too we can recognise the existence of a variety of patterns for trimoraic stems12 without having to reduce these to extensions of the bimoraic type.
In particular, I am proposing that there are four patterns of reduplication available to trimoraic stems, which with the simplex makes five forms in which such stems may appear. I know of no stem which appears in all five, and only one where four are attested. Further, many stems appear only in one or more of the reduplicated forms and there is a gap in the simplex slot. Which of these forms any particular stem assumes is a matter for the lexicon, though, as with reduplication generally, research may reveal the existence of regularities which have escaped me.
Some of the reduplication patterns are rendered slightly opaque by the (in two cases, regular, in others, sporadic) operation of our consonant dissimilation process. Indeed, it is precisely because I believe that this process plays a role in these forms that I am mentioning them at all. Conversely, the postulation of the process of conditioned consonant deletion 'explains' some of the odd features of these patterns.
10J(rupa (1966) deals with fonnal aspects of this phenomenon within his general treatment of word formation. l lKrupa adds the footnote: 'Only root morphemes may be reduplicated in Maori. (Unlike the affixes and particles.)'. 12No doubt many of these are etymologically complex, though it is questionable how far this is true synchronically.
1 22 RAY HARLOW
The account I am giving here makes use of the approach known as Moraic Phonology,13 and claims that the underlying syllable structure of Maori is 0 = (C)V,14 and all o's are uniformly of one mora (11) length, the mora inhering in the peak. This is the level at which reduplication rules, among others, operate. Subsequent rules combine some sequences of vowels into phonetically long vowels and diphthongs, 15 and thus surface syllables of length greater than one 11·
Given a basic trimoraic stem shape of 010203, the four reduplication patterns (with a couple of examples each for the meantime) are:16
1 . reduplication of the first syllable: 01010203: hohoata < hoata both meaning 'the moon on the third day, pale, colourless' ; a-anini <anini both meaning 'giddy, aching (of the head)'.
2 . reduplication of the first two syllables: 0101020203 (with dissimilation of the repeated consonant in 01 (1):
taweweke ' slow, dilatory' < taweke 'linger'; miinenei < manei 'reach out to'
3 . reduplication of the ftrst two syllables: 0102010203:
takatakai 'wind round and round' < takai 'wrap up'; riariaki < riaki 'raise'
4. reduplication of all three syllables: °10102030203 (with dissimilation of the repeated consonant in 01(1):
piiJearukaru 'break in pieces (vtr)' < pakaru 'broken'; piihiihii 'pop, crackle' < pahii 'explode', Le. pa-a-hu-u-hu-u < pa-hu-u.
Of these, Pattern 4 is very much the most frequently attested, as even a casual look at Williams ( 197 1 ) will reveal. Pattern 3 is also fairly common, while Pattern 2 is rather rare. Appendix 3 is a table of simplex and reduplicated trimoraic stems, with no claim that the listings are exhaustive. Indeed, if any of these patterns are in any sense productive, exhaustive listings are impossible.
There are four places in the patterns stated above where the complete dissimilation of consonants occurs. In all cases, the provisional formulation arrived at above describes the site of deletion and the relationship to the conditioning consonant.
(a) Pattern 1 : In some cases, the C1 VC1 V of 0101 is dissimilated to CVV, thus: takai 'bandage' < takai 'wrap up' (Le. *ta-takal); piiJearu 'break in pieces (vtr)' < pakaru 'broken' . In one case, there exists a pair of forms in one of which this has occurred and in the other of which the consonant is preserved: papatii 'screen for defensive purposes' - piitii 'screen, wall' < *patii.
(b) Pattern 2: The C1VCl V of 0101 is always dissimilated to CVV, however, the C2VC2V of 0202 is never dissimilated to CVV. Thus, the pattern is always as given above.
l3Cf. for example Hayes and Abad (1989 and ref. there). This approach is anticipated for Maori by Bauer ( 1981). 14Statement of these patterns in terms of 'syllables' is for convenience only, and should not be taken to imply that these i>atterns must be stated in these terms. Indeed, a translation into Marantz's 1982 C-V skeleta plus copying of (parts ot) the morpheme is very simple and loses nothing. 15This aspect of Maori phonology must be left for another occasion, though a number of phenomena mentioned here rrovide evidence for such an account 6Note by the way, that at least some of these patterns are inherited: cf. Fijian (see Arms 1989) balabalavu 'veg long' <
balavu ' long', butobutO < bulo 'dark', Pattern 3; kakaclresuclresu 'torn to shreds' < kadresu 'torn', Pattern 4. Sunilarly, for Hawaiian examples, cf. Elbert and Pukui (1979:66).
CONSONANT DISSIMILATION IN MAORI 1 23
(c) Pattern 4: the CI VCI V of alaI is always dissimilated to CW.
(d) Pattern 4: if a2 = a3, then the first occurrence of CI VCI V of a2a3 may be dissimilated to CVV. This is in keeping with the stipulation that the deletion site must be at least three morre from the end of the word. Thus, pOwhiwhiwhi = pOwhiwhiwhiwhi < powhiwhi all meaning 'tangled'.
Among the sets given in Appendix 3 is one representative of a phenomenon which should be mentioned here though it bears only indirectly on the primary object of this discussion. The three obviously related forms monehu 'die, expire', monenehu and monehunehu ' indistinct' are listed as the Patterns 1 , 2 and 4 reduplications of an unattested *monehu. There exist many other Maori words of the form CI V I V I C2V2C3V3 (Pattern 1 ), for which there exists neither a CIV IC2V2C3V3 ( 'simplex') form nor a reduplication of the shape CIVIC2V2CIVIC2V2C3V3 (pattern 3). That is, there exists no surface form with an initial short syllable.
Many of these words have a Pattern 4 reduplication, thus for example, hiimama 'open, gaping' -
hiimamamama 'yawn', or tiipeke 'jump' - tiipekepeke 'jump about' . Pattern 2 is much rarer, but is exemplified above with monenehu. These words can of course be derived as implied in Appendix 3; that is, with underlying simplexes of the form CI V I C2 V 2C3 V 3, which chance not to surface or to have Pattern 3 reduplication. An alternative (and, in many instances, more likely) analysis would take CI V I V I C2 V 2C3 V 3, that is, monehu, tiipeke, hiimama, to be the simplexes, and allow a reduplication pattern which consisted in a copy of the last two morre only. Such a pattern is to be found with some words which are unequivocally tetramoraic in their simplex form, e.g. porotiti =
porotititi 'disk, revolving' , karawhai = karawhaiwhai 'enclose in a net', raunui = raununui 'broad'. Many of these words are clearly derived in the first place by prefixation to a stem which, in many cases, exists as a free form. Thus, besides tiipeke 'jump', there is also peke 'jump'; besides raunui 'broad', there is nui 'big'.
4. CONCLUSION
What I have tried to do in this paper is to demonstrate the existence of an optional process in Maori which deletes one of two consecutive like consonants, so long as the deleted consonant is neither word initial nor less than three morre from the end of a word. The process is a cyclic rule in the technical sense used by Marantz (1982) in his discussion of reduplication, and by others.
The process provides an account of some instances of allomorphy in Maori and of some of the details of reduplicated forms. Reduplication is clearly a complicated and under-researched area in Maori, with respect both to its formal properties and to the meanings expressed by it. Similarly under-researched is Maori phonology as a whole. This paper has brought to light some problems in these areas, and suggested starting points for further work.
APPENDIX 1
wbi- - wbab-whiiinu = whakainu 'give to drink' whiikana 'make grimaces' < kana 'stare wildly' whiikanakana ' stare' < kanakana 'stare wildly'
1 24 RAY HARLOW
whiikao = whakakao17 'collect' < kao 'assembled' whiikapakapa 'quivering of the hands' cf. whakakakapa 'brandish, flourish' whiikoekoe = whakakoekoe 'tickle' fakorekore 'to deny' (Harlow 1987) whiikorekore = whakakorekore 'cause not to be' faakumu 'to shut the mouth' (Harlow 1987) whiikuru 'pelt' < kuru 'pelt' but whakakuru < kuru 'weary' whiingongo 'administer liquid food to someone' < ngongo 'suck' (but
whakangongo 'neglect, pay no attention' < ngongo 'low bom') whiimutu = whakamutu 'leave off' whiingote = whakangote 'suckle' (latter not in Williams 1971) whaomoomo= whakaomoomo 'tend a child' whapiko 'make a snare or noose', whakapiko 'bend' wharanu = whakaranu 'mix (vtr)' whiirite = whakarite 'make like, compare' whatare(tare) 'stoop over', whakatare(tare) 'lean forward' whatika = whakatika 'straighten' whatoro = whakatoro 'touch' whatuturi = whakatuturi 'be obstinate' < turi 'deaf' whaunu 'give to drink'
APPENDIX 2
Passives of reduplicated stems:
huti, huhuti - hiitia 'hoist, haul up' kakahu - kahua 'bite' South Island Maori (cf. Harlow 1987) kukume, kume - kiimea 'pull, drag' kukuti, kuti - kiitia 'draw tightly together, contract, pinch' nonoke 'struggle' - nakea 'hustle him' nonoti, noti - natia 'pinch, contract' papaki -piikia 'to slap' pold, popold, poldpold - pOlda 'cover over' pupuhi - puma 'to blow or shoot' tatari - taria 'wait' (tiiringa, nom.) tungi, tutungi - tiingia 'kindle, set light to' wau, wawau 'foolish' - wauia 'be discussed'
APPENDIX 3
Some examples of the patterns of reduplication of trimoraic stems:
Simplex Pattern 1 Pattern 2 Pattern 3
*arai iirai screen
17Not in Williams (1971), but does occur in modem Maori.
araarai frequentative
Pattern 4
CONSONANT DISSIMILATION IN MAORI 1 25
*hapai hapai hapahapai lift up frequentative
hawai hawahawai an edible fungus hillock in which
weeds are buried
hoia hohoia annoyed annoyance
*hokai hokai hokahokai hokaikai extended extend extend
horoi horohoroi18 wash to wash, shower
(vi)
kanono kanonono Coprosma australis Coprosma australis
kopii kokopii blistered type of gravel
?manea talisman
manei manenei reach out to reach out to
mangungu broken, chipped
maoa mamaoa cooked, ripe steam
marara scattered
matiti matititi split, crack cracked, split
?matoru matoru matotoru benumbed crowd thick, dull
merau
mohua momohua yellowhead, yellow head, k.o. bird k.o. bird
*mokai mokai pet bird or animal
18Not in Williams (197 1). but cf. Moorfield (1988: 145). l�o gloss in Williams (1971) for these two forms.
kopiipii having blistered
skin
manemanea satisfied
mangiingungu gritty
maomaoa first fruits of kumara
mararara rather scattered
matorutoru benumbed
menunerau19
mohuahua yellowhead, k.o. bird
mokamokai mokaikai pet bird or animal pet bird or animal
1 26 RAY HARLOW
*monehu manehu manenehu manehunehu die, expire indistinct indistinct
*moutu momoutu mautuutu rifleman rifleman
pahii papahii pahiihii explode resound, burst pop, crackle
into flame
pakaru p8karu p8karukaru broken break in pieces (vtr) break in pieces
(vtr)
pake pakepake p8keke creak creak creak pakeke p8keke adult adult
paldni pilikini pilinikini nip, pinch pain, smart pain, smart
panoko papanoko piinonoko piinokonoko k.o. fish k.o. fish k.o. fish k.o. fish
parau paraparau false, baffled baffled
paroro piiroro threatening clouds threatening clouds
parure piirure confused, abashed overcome, maltreat
*patai patai patapatai pataitai ask frequentative frequentative
patO patopat(9:D patata knock type knock
frequentative
peau peapeau to be turned away turn aside (vi)
pirau pipirau pirapirau rotten decayed decayed
*pokai pakai pokapokai roll up roll up
*potae patae potapotae hat surrounding
2<Not in Williams (1971), but does occur in modem Maori.
r---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONSONANT DISSIMILATION IN MAORI 1 27
powhiwhi pOwhiwhi pOwhlwhiwhi, tangled several climbing pOwhiwhiwhiwhi
plants tangled
ramene riimemene assemble assemble
riaki riariaki raise raise
riroi riroriroi twisted entangled
riua riuriua borne away borne away
taho tahoho
yielding, weak soft, pulpy
takai takai takatakai wrap up bandage (noun) wind round
tapahi tapatapahi cut cut in pieces
*tarai tarai taratarai fashion, dress fashion, dress
tau tatau turn away turn about, vacillate
tawe ta weta we noise noisy
taweke taweweke linger slow, dilatory
*tihoi tihoi tihotihoi tInoihoi wander, vagrant wander aimlessly wander aimlessly
tinei tinetinei quench, extinguish quench, extinguish
tunou tunotunou nod the head bow repeatedly
tupehu whaka-tiipehupehu blustering bluster
turaki turaturaki throw down throw down a
number of things
turua turuturua beautiful beautiful
1 28 RAY HARLOW
*whangai
wheau be long (in time)
BmLIOGRAPHY
whangai feed
whangawhangai chann
wheawheau a fonn of ritual
whangaingai food to send
visitors on their way
whakawheauau delay (vi)
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