The syntax of intensifiers in Muishaung

Abstract

Abstract The Tangsa-Nocte languages of the India/Myanmar border region employ a system of suffixes to modify descriptive words. These may be reduplicated under certain conditions, determined by the stress patterns of the larger utterance. Previously referred to as intensifiers (Morey n.d.; van Dam 2018), these affixes modify their stems to cover a wide range of different meanings, with each stem having a limited and sometimes unique set of applicable modifiers. Such intensifiers are found throughout the Pangwa varieties of Tangsa-Nocte and occur with the majority of basic adjectives derived from monosyllabic verbal stems.