Grammatical tone in Cantonese vocative reduplication

Abstract

Cantonese vocative reduplication appears to have complete tonal overwrite with both copies undergoing tone changes. However, this paper argues that the tone changes should be analyzed as the result of two separate morphemes. The first a prefixal reduplicant which conveys a diminutive meaning which has a prespecified tonal melody, analogous to fixed-segmentism. The second is a vocative morpheme which consists of a floating high tone suffix. I show that when these two morphemes combine, regular tonal interactions yield the correct surface forms.