Re: Vowel-echo (was: Re: Drughu and Rokbeigalm)

Quoting Daniel Andreasson Vpc-Work <daniel.andreasson@...>:

> Steg Belsky wrote:
>
> > gorgû = orcs (from |gorgu+u| by vowel-echo)
>
> Vowel-echo? Is that some sort of reduplication? I have
> a similar form of vowel-lengthening at the end of words
> to mark the patient case in my new conlang.
>
> I also have reduplication at the beginning of words to
> mark the plural. Not very original, I know...
>
> Examples:
>
> piata    'dog'
> piataa   'dog:PAT'
> pipiata  'dogs'
> pipiataa 'dogs:PAT'
Do you have a diachronic explanation for this? It would seem
like a textbook case of compensatory lengthening.  (I love it
when changes in prosody are the only evidence of morphological
changes in a word.)

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