> I think I remembering hearing 'samazama', which I
> take
> to be a plural of 'sama', which means something like
> 'lord' (well, person of significantly higher status
> than the speaker; damn Japanese sociolinguistics).
>
> --- Tim May <butsuri@...> a écrit :
> > 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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