Grammaticalization and phonological reidentification in White Hmong

Abstract The “dynamic coevolution of meaning and form” Bybee et al. ( 1994 : 20) has been the subject significant discussion as regards languages Mainland Southeast Asia. However, little work focused on mechanisms through which this occurs when it does surface in these languages. current considers phonological reidentification resulting from phonetic reduction White Hmong (Hmong-Mien, Laos) involving four morphemes, ntshai / ntshe ‘maybe’, saib seb ‘see if/whether; comp.cfact ’, puag pug ‘ locl;ints niaj nej ‘each, every’. These morphemes exhibit an alternation where a rime is phonologically reidentified manner consistent with typical underarticulation patterns, such that exemplar-model approach Pierrehumbert 2001 , inter alia ) provides straightforward explanation. Furthermore, data show patterns found parallels other region, confirming areal to grammaticalization greater descriptive adequacy cross-linguistically phenomenon.