Type-C Emphatic Reduplication in Sakha

Sakha (Yakut) is a Turkic language spoken in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Like many other Turkic languages, Sakha allows reduplication. One pattern is a reduplicative prefix CVp-, which intensifies adjectives (e.g. kirdex ‘dirty’; kip-kirdex ‘very dirty’). It involves fixed segmentism of /p/ and is described in the literature as emphatic or ‘Type-C’ reduplication. This pattern is the focus of the present work. Using data from both existing literature and a consultant, this study captures using a traditional OT approach: (i) the general pattern of fixed segmentism in type-C reduplication, (ii) optional OCP effects, and (iii) monophthongization or vowel shortening effects in the reduplicant.