Transitivity and voice in Austronesian

Sonja Riesberg
Voice – general introduction
“Voice is … a mechanism that selects a grammatically
prominent syntactic constituent — subject — from the
underlying semantic functions (… thematic roles) of a clause.”
(Shibatani 1988:3)

• voice is a productive alternation

• affects the identity of the grammatical subject (=syntactic pivot)
• does not, in general, change the basic meaning of the
clause, including the number and semantic roles of the
arguments  i.e. not necessarily change in transitivity

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Voice – general introduction
The most common voice pattern cross-
linguistically is the Active-Passive alternation,
followed by the Ergative-Antipassive alternation.
Many western Austronesian languages display
Symmetrical Voice Systems.

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This lecture
• Active-Passive alternations
 detransitivising operations
• Ergative-Antipassive alternations (introduction)
 detransitivising operations
• Symmetrical Voice alternations
 non-demoting operation

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This lecture
• Voice and transitivity
(i) What is the grammatical subject for a particular clause
type?
(ii) How do we distinguish core arguments from obliques?

• “Philippine-type” and “Indonesian-type” voice

systems

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Active-passive alternations
(1) a. The children kicked the dog.  active

b. The dog was kicked by the children.  passive

“Voice is … a mechanism that selects a grammatically prominent

syntactic constituent — subject — from the underlying semantic
functions (…thematic roles) of a clause.” (Shibatani 1988: 3)
Active-passive alternations
(2) a.Anak-anak memukul anjingnya.  active

b.Anjing dipukul oleh anak-anak.  passive

“Voice is … a mechanism that selects a grammatically prominent

syntactic constituent — subject — from the underlying semantic
functions (…thematic roles) of a clause.” (Shibatani 1988: 3)
Active-passive alternations
SUBJECT OBJECT
AGENT PATIENT

(1) a. The children kicked the dog.

b. The dog was kicked by the children

SUBJECT OBLIQUE
PATIENT AGENT
Active-passive alternations
“Voice is … a mechanism
SUBJECT OBJECT that selects a
grammatically prominent
AGENT PATIENT syntactic constituent —
subject — from the
(1) a. The children kicked the dog. underlying semantic
functions (…thematic
roles) of a clause.”

b. The dog was kicked by the children

SUBJECT OBLIQUE
PATIENT AGENT
Active-passive alternations
(1)a. The children kicked the dog.

b.The dog was kicked by the children.

passives are:
- morphologically marked
- intransitiv (the agent is
demoted)
 derived from the active

• the active construction is the (only) transitive construction

Active-passive alternations
(2) a. Anak-anak memukul anjingnya. passives are:
- morphologically marked
- intransitiv (the agent is
b. Anjing dipukul oleh anak-anak. demoted)
 derived from the active

?? the active construction is the (only) transitive construction ??

 not true for Indonesian and many other western Austronesian
languages  symmetrical voice systems
Accusative, Ergative, Split-S

A P A P

S S

A P

SA SP
Accusative alignment
• the single argument of an intransitive
clause (S) behaves like the agent-like
argument of a transitive clause (A)

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Ergative alignment
• the single argument of an intransitive
clause (S) behaves like the patient-like
argument of a transitive clause (P)

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Split-S
• there are two classes of single arguments
of an intransitive clauses (S):
– one class behaves like the agent-like
argument of a transitive clause (A)
– the other class behaves like the patient-like
argument of a transitive clause (P)

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Ergative-antipassive alternations
(3) EMBALOH (north-central Borneo)
a. a-naŋis-ak
INTR-cry-1SG.ABS S=ABS=SUBJ
‘I cry.’

b. ai si naɁan ku-tiŋkam-ko bea P=ABS=SUBJ

how not 1SG.ERG-catch-2SG.ABS in.fact
balik ia Ɂi-pa-tabeɁ-i-ko
then as ERG-CAUS-tabeɁ-TR-2SG.ABS

‘Why shouldn’t I catch you, after all your mother

brought you into a state of tabeɁ!’

(Adelaar 1995: 389, 390)

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Ergative-antipassive alternations
(4) EMBALOH (north-central Borneo)
a. da-iko indiɁ baru takir-a
EMPH-you.SG this only measure-3SG.POSS
unti kurabo suar-u-Ɂan, A S=ABL=SUBJ
banana kurabo fang-2SG.POSS-DEF
toɁ maniŋkam-ko namin loɁ-kuɁ!
intend maN:catch-2SG.ABS already PREP-1SG.POSS
‘You on the other hand, with your fangs no bigger than
kurabo bananas, you do want to catch me!’

(Adelaar 1995: 390)

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Detransitivizing operations
Both passive and antipassive are thus
detransitivizing operations, because they reduce
the number of core arguments in a basic
transitive clause from two to one, changing
transitive clauses into intransitive clauses.

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Detransitivizing operations
accusative-passive
detransitivizing
ergative-antipassive

accusative & ergative constructions:

• are syntactically transitive
• i.e. they have two core arguments (A & P)
accusative: A = SUBJ, P = non-SUBJ
ergative: P = SUBJ, A = non-SUBJ

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Detransitivizing operations
accusative-passive
detransitivizing
ergative-antipassive

passive & antipassive constructions:

• are syntactically intransitive
• i.e. they have one core argument (S) and one
oblique argument (often a PP)
passive: A = PP (SP)
antipassive: P = PP (SA)

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Accusative - passive vs.
Ergative - antipassive

active: A P

passive: SP PPA

ergative: P A

antipass: SA PPP

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Voice and transitivity
(i) What is the grammatical subject for a
particular clause type?
(ii) How do we distinguish core arguments
from obliques?

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EXERCISE 1

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 EXERCISE 1

A= P=
enclitic postclitic

S=
postclitic

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 EXERCISE 1

A = ERG P = ABS

S = ABS

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Accusative, Ergative (Split-S)

A P A P

S S

Symmetrical voice systems?

Western Austronesian
symmetrical voice alternations
A language is a symmetrical voice language, if

a. it has more than one basic transitive construction

b. the corresponding arguments behave equally
in all voices, and
c. the verb is morphologically equally marked
in all different voices

(Riesberg 2014: 10)

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West Austronesian
symmetrical voice alternations
(5) TOTOLI (central Sulawesi)
a. Winarno mongusut kunji motorna.  Actor Voice
Winarno moN-kusut kunji motor-na
Winarno AV-look.for key motorcycle-3s.POSS
‘Winarno is searching for the keys for his scooter.‘

b. Kunji itu kusut-i Winarno.  Undergoer Voice

key DET look.for-UV Winarno.
‘Winarno is searching for the keys.‘

Looks like a passive? It isn’t!

West Austronesian
symmetrical voice alternations
(5) TOTOLI (central Sulawesi)
a. Winarno mongusut kunji motorna.  Actor Voice
Winarno moN-kusut kunji motor-na
Winarno AV-look.for key motorcycle-3s.POSS
‚Winarno is searching for the keys for his scooter.‘

b. Kunji itu kusut-i Winarno.  Undergoer Voice

key DET look.for-UV Winarno
‚Winarno is searching for the keys.‘
West Austronesian
symmetrical voice alternations
(5) TOTOLI (central Sulawesi)
a. Winarno mongusut kunji motorna.
‚Winarno is searching for the keys for his scooter.‘
unlike passives, UVs are:
b. Kunji itu kusut-i Winarno. - morphologically no more
‚Winarno is searching for the keys.‘ marked than AVs
- not intransitive (the agent
• two (or more) transitive constructions remails a core argument)
 not derived from the AV
Voice and transitivity
(i) What is the grammatical subject for a
particular clause type?
(ii) How do we distinguish core arguments
from obliques?

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Transitivity
(i) What is the grammatical subject for a
particular clause type?
(3) EMBALOH (north-central Borneo)

b. ai si naɁan ku-tiŋkam-ko bea P=ABS=SUBJ

how not 1SG.ERG-catch-2SG.ABS in.fact
balik ia Ɂi-pa-tabeɁ-i-ko
then as ERG-CAUS-tabeɁ-TR-2SG.ABS

‘Why shouldn’t I catch you, after all your mother

brought you into a state of tabeɁ!’

(Adelaar 1995: 389, 390)

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Transitivity
(ii) How do we distinguish core arguments
from obliques?

(2) b. Anjing dipukul oleh anak-anak.

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Subject properties
• word order
• case marking coding properties
• agreement
• relativisation behavioural
• control properties
• …
language specific!!!

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object / core argument properties
• word order
• case marking coding properties
• agreement
• floating quantifiers behavioural
• modification by properties
sec. predicates
• …
language specific!!!
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Balinese
a. Tiang nyepak cicinge.
tiang N-sepak cicing-e
1s AV-kick dog-DEF
‘I kicked the dog.’ (Artawa 1998: 8)

b. Cicing-e sepak tiang.

dog-DEF UV.kick 1s
‘I kicked the dog.’ (Artawa 1998: 8)

c. Nyoman baang-a pipis (teken Wayan).

PN give-PASS money by PN
‘Nyoman was given money (by Wayan).’ (Arka 2003: 224)

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Subject properties in Balinese
a. only subjects can precede the verb in unmarked word-
order; all other arguments follow the verb
b. only subjects can be relativized using the gap strategy.
c. only subjects can be raised
d. only subjects can be “controllees”, i.e., targets of “Equi-NP
deletion”
e. only subjects can be extraposed to sentence-final position.
f. only subjects can occur in the initial focus position marked
with anak
g. wh- fronting applies only to question words that are
subjects; non-subject question words remain in situ
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Core-argument properties in Balinese
a. CA are expressed as NPs, while oblique arguments are
expressed as PPs
b. “Floating quantifiers” can only be launched by CA
c. CA and possessors of CA can be topicalized, but
obliques and possessors of obliques cannot
d. CA (but not oblique arguments) can be modified by
secondary depictive predicates
e. The addressee/agent of an imperative clause must be a
term argument. (A passive verb may not function as an
imperative, unlike Malay/Indonesian where the passive
is often used in polite or softened imperatives.)
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Core-argument properties in Balinese
a. CA are expressed as NPs, while oblique arguments are
expressed as PPs
b. “Floating quantifiers” can only be launched by CA
c. CA and possessors of CA can be topicalized, but
obliques and possessors of obliques cannot
d. CA (but not oblique arguments) can be modified by
secondary depictive predicates
e. The addressee/agent of an imperative clause must be a
term argument. (A passive verb may not function as an
imperative, unlike Malay/Indonesian where the passive
is often used in polite or softened imperatives.)
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Balinese quantifier float

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Balinese quantifier float

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EXERCISE 2

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EXERCISE 2 – solution

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EXERCISE 2 – solution

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EXERCISE 2 – solution

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Further distinctions in western
Austronesian
• accusative-passive
• ergative-antipassive
• symmetrical
– Indonesian Type
– Philippine Type

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Some terminological background
• Philippine-type: (Himmelmann 2005: 111ff)
– languages of the Philippines and from neighbouring islands
which share typical Philippine characteristics
– at least two formally and semantically different undergoer voices
– at least one non-local phrase marking clitic for nominal
expressions
– pronominal second position clitics
– (VOS)
• Indonesian-type:
– non-Philippine type symmetrical voice languages
– (does not include the non-symmetrical voice, preposed
possessor languages of eastern Indonesia)
– (SVO and VOS)
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Philippine-type – Tagalog
(1) a. bumabasa [ng diyaryo] [ang titser]
<um>RDP-basa ng diyaryo ang titser
<AV>RDP-read GEN newspaper NOM teacher
‘the teacher is reading a newspaper’ [Schachter/Otanes 1972: 69]

b. kinain [ng pusa] [ang daga]

<in>kain-ø ng pusa ang daga
<RLS>eat-PV GEN cat NOM rat
‘the cat ate the rat’ [Kaufman 2015: 603]

c. iniabot [ng manggagamot] [sa sundalo] [ang itlog]

<in>i-abot ng manggagamot sa sundalo ang itlog
<RLS>CV-reach GEN doctor DAT soldier NOM egg
‘the physician handed the egg to the soldier’ [Himmelmann 2008: 265]

d. kinainan [ng pusa] [ng daga] [ang pinggan]

<in>kain-an ng pusa ng daga ang pinggan
<RLS>eat-LV GEN cat GEN rat NOM plate
‘the cat ate the rat on/from the plate’ [Kaufman 2015: 603]

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Tagalog – symmetrical voice
(1) a. bumabasa [ng diyaryo] [ang titser]
<um>RDP-basa ng diyaryo ang titser
<AV>RDP-read GEN newspaper NOM teacher
‘the teacher is reading a newspaper’ [Schachter/Otanes 1972: 69]

b. kinain [ng pusa] [ang daga]

<in>kain-ø ng pusa ang daga
<RLS>eat-PV GEN cat NOM rat
‘the cat ate the rat’ [Kaufman 2015: 603]

c. iniabot [ng manggagamot] [sa sundalo] [ang itlog]

<in>i-abot ng manggagamot sa sundalo ang itlog
<RLS>CV-reach GEN doctor DAT soldier NOM egg
‘the physician handed the egg to the soldier’ [Himmelmann 2008: 265]

d. kinainan [ng pusa] [ng daga] [ang pinggan]

<in>kain-an ng pusa ng daga ang pinggan
<RLS>eat-LV GEN cat GEN rat NOM plate
‘the cat ate the rat on/from the plate’ [Kaufman 2015: 603]

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Tagalog – phrase markers
(1) a. bumabasa [ng diyaryo] [ang titser]
<um>RDP-basa ng diyaryo ang titser
<AV>RDP-read GEN newspaper NOM teacher
‘the teacher is reading a newspaper’ [Schachter/Otanes 1972: 69]

b. kinain [ng pusa] [ang daga]

<in>kain-ø ng pusa ang daga
<RLS>eat-PV GEN cat NOM rat
‘the cat ate the rat’ [Kaufman 2015: 603]

c. iniabot [ng manggagamot] [sa sundalo] [ang itlog]

<in>i-abot ng manggagamot sa sundalo ang itlog
<RLS>CV-reach GEN doctor DAT soldier NOM egg
‘the physician handed the egg to the soldier’ [Himmelmann 2008: 265]

d. kinainan [ng pusa] [ng daga] [ang pinggan]

<in>kain-an ng pusa ng daga ang pinggan
<RLS>eat-LV GEN cat GEN rat NOM plate
‘the cat ate the rat on/from the plate’ [Kaufman 2015: 603]

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Tagalog – 2nd position clitics
(2) a. nag-túrò ang babae
AV-teach NOM woman
‘the woman is teaching’ [Kaufman 2010: 5]

b. Na-túto=siya ng wíka ng Instsik

AV-learn=3s.NOM GEN language LNK Chinese
‘She learned Chinese’ [Kaufman 2010: 10]

c. Hindí=siya na-túto ng wíka ng Instsik

NEG=3s.NOM AV-learn GEN language LNK Chinese
‘She didn’t learn Chinese’ [Kaufman 2010: 10]

d. Saan=siya na-túto ng wíka ng Instsik?

where=3s.NOM AV-learn GEN language LNK Chinese
‘Where did she learn Chinese?’ [Kaufman 2010: 10]

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Some terminological background
• Philippine-type: (Himmelmann 2005: 111ff)
– languages of the Philippines and from neighbouring islands
which share typical Philippine characteristics
– at least two formally and semantically different undergoer voices
– at least one non-local phrase marking clitic for nominal
expressions
– pronominal second position clitics
– (VOS)
• Indonesian-type:
– non-Philippine type symmetrical voice languages
– (does not include the non-symmetrical voice, preposed
possessor languages of eastern Indonesia)
– (SVO and VOS)
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Indonesian type – Totoli
(3) a. isia nog-ita tipi
3s AV.RLS-look.for television
‘He looked for a television.’

b. taipang ni-taip-Ø Rinto UV 1

mango RLS-peel-UV1 PN

‘Rinto peeled the mango.’

c. babi ni-pate-an=ku=mo UV 2
pig RLS-kill-UV2=1s.GEN=CPL

‘You killed the pig.’

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