I describe frozen reduplicatives in Gizey in comparison with other
languages of the Masa branch (Chadic < Afroasiatic). The aim of the
presentation is to provide insights into the patterns and functions of
reduplication as it occurred at the time those frozen or vestigial
reduplicatives were formed, i.e., probably in Proto-Masa. I analyse *CV-
reduplication in Masa as a phonological doubling, which compensates the
loss of the segmental material of a now obsolete prefix (*mV-). I then show
that a considerable number of frozen total reduplicatives in Gizey derive
from a shift from Proto-Masa *CV- reduplication to total reduplication
(*CV-red > TOTAL-red) under the influence of a morphological niche
consisting of pre-existing ideophonic/onomatopoeic total reduplicatives.
Residues of ancient partial reduplicative processes are also considered.