Re: What is gemination? What are geminates?

Kristian's reply to me:
>>Interesting ex.   Any idea how [b:ulE] is pronounced?  ....  I'd be
willing to bet this plural form
>>originated as a reduplicated form.... bVbulE.   (First thought was, this
is
>>*bulan with an odd, but not impossible, sound change; is [-an] > E seen
>>elsewhere?   There's also *bulaj (= US usage *bulay) 'white, pale', much
>>easier phonologically.
>
>Here is what Ladefoged writes in "The Sounds of the World's Languages":
>
>"Word-initial long stops are rare, but they exist, for example, in Pattani
>Malay, which has a length distinction for initial consonants. Illustrative
>examples are given...
>
>     SHORT                          LONG
>     [bulE]   "moon"                [b:ulE]   "many months"
>     [kato?]  "to strike"           [k:ato?]  "frog"
>     [labO]   "to make a profit"    [l:abO]   "spider"
>     [makE]   "to eat"              [m:akE]   "to be eaten"
>     [siku]   "elbow"               [s:iku]   "hand tool"
>
(snip interesting details)
Ho! On the basis of two examples, a generalization:  evidently Pattani Ml.
_does_ shift [-an] > [E]; [bulE, makE] = Ml. bulan, makan.   And these
strengthen my theory that the C:  probably arises from reduplication, which
can be seen throughout the AN area as a means of forming plurals, animal
names, and instrumentals inter alia.  Only "passive" [m:akE] < ?mV-makE is a
little odd.  Some Ml. dialects, and the oldest Ml. inscriptions, have a
passive formant ni-; I wonder if this could be <*/ni-makan/ (via **n@makan >
**nm.... > mm.... )

I've said it before:  despite Malay being well-known and widely spoken, we
know shockingly little about its dialects.