Special tonal alternations in Dongshi Hakka reduplication

This paper investigates the special tone sandhi phenomena in the reduplication patterns of AB(C)AB(C), AAA, and AAAA in Dongshi Hakka. These patterns are notable in that they involve tone sandhi patterns that are different from those found in non-reduplications. Within the constraint-based theory of OT, this paper shows that although the tonal alternations observed in the different reduplication patterns are distinct from one another, they are all accompanied with a floating high tone which contributes greatly to the special patterns associated with tone sandhi. In addition to the existence of a floating high tone, AAA reduplication and AAAA reduplication also surface with fixed tonal melodies. It is shown that the fixed tonal melodies in the two patterns of reduplication actually resemble the common phenomena of fixed segmentism in reduplication and are driven by markedness requirements.