Tagalog Monosyllabic Roots

Abstract

When loanwords are excluded, one realizes that many Tagalog words are based on monosyllabic roots (consonant-vowel-consonant). These roots combine among themselves or with affixes to generate disyllabic or trisyllabic radicals, which are the basic operational units of Tagalog morphology, as for example *tul in *pu- + *tul > putol 'cut' (compare *pu- + *gut > pugot 'decapitated') and *tul + *-i? > tult? 'circumcized'. In addition some radicals seem to be built on vowel-consonant-vowel sequences that I call triads, as for example *b- + *-ilu- + *-g > bilog 'circle', *k- + *-ilu- + *-? > kil6? 'curved', *s- + *-ilu- + *-? > silo? 'loop'.