nos = eat
nos nos = feast (noun)
sabe = wall
sabe sabe = to wall in, to surroundThis could obviously lead to situations like:
nana = sit
*nana nanaTo avoid four consonants of the same kind in a row, there is lexically determined dissimulation/substitution, that usually changes on of the inner consonants: nana nana -> nama nana, nana mana.
Different substitutions can be used to obtain slightly different meanings, that in other reduplication situations all would be formed using the same surface form.
As for the subsitutions themselves, they usually will keep some features of the sound and only change manner or place of articulation or such. Simple dissimulation, essentially.
Sometimes, the change in a consonant can also affect a vowel:
xoxo -> xoye xoxo
Cool, dissimilation to prevent identical strings: the Obligatory Contour Principle at work! I like that different substitutions could be used for different meanings, maybe based on which copy (the first or the second) is considered the syntactic head. I would guess that the head of the compound would resist change, so its modifier would dissimilate. I also feel for some reason that manner of articulation would be more likely to change than place of articulation: place features seem more "essential" to a consonant than manner features or secondary articulation.
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