Re: Plurals via reduplication in Japanese (was Re: Adopting a plural)

Paul Bennett wrote at 2004-10-08 09:25:45 (-0400)

 > Aren't there also some small number of plural nouns in Japanese
 > formed by reduplication? They're fossils, but certainly existent,
 > or so the conversation went. I swear that not too long ago on this
 > very list somebody (but I fail to recall who) posted a short list
 > of them. I think it was actually to do with /h/ ~ /p/ ~ /b/ and the
 > sound changes that made them what they are. The examples were
 > showing that the sound change only happened in initial (or was it
 > non-initial?) position. One example was habipabi or huriburi or
 > something. Damn, I wish I could remember it better.
 >

Hito (person) > hitobito (people)
Shima (island) > shimajima (islands)

Those are the two examples I know of.

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