A Quantitative Study of Voice in Malagasy† Edward L
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In Oceanic Linguistics vol 40.1:67 – 85. 2001 A Quantitative study of Voice in Malagasy† Edward L. Keenan Cecile Manorohanta UCLA Université Nord, Antsiranana Madagascar [email protected] This paper is a quantitative study of the voice system in Malagasy (W. Austronesian; Madagascar). We show that non-active verbs in Malagasy have a very different distribution in texts than non-active verbs in English, German and Dutch: they occur far more frequently and they typically present Agent phrases. This we claim reflects the very different role of the voicing system in the grammars of W. Austronesian and W. European languages. Our presentation is organized as follows: Part I reviews the voice system of Malagasy, classifying the various voice forms into Active vs non-Active; the latter divided in Passive, and Circumstantial. Part II presents the results of our text study and Part III draws some conclusions regarding the nature of the voicing system in Malagasy. 1. The voice system of Malagasy We first exemplify the Malagasy voice forms. Examples are given in the standard orthography, augmented when helpful by '+' to indicate morpheme boundaries, ' to mark main stress, and block parentheses to indicate constituency. Pronounced forms are noted in round parentheses next to their morphemic decompositions (when not simply the concatenation of the latter). (1) a. [n+i+vídy akanjo hoan'ny zaza] i Vao past+active+buy clothes for'the child art Vao Vao bought clothes for the child b. [no+vidy+ina+i Vao (novidín'i Vao) hoan'ny zaza] ny akanjo past+buy+pass+art Vao for'the child the clothes The clothes were bought by Vao for the child c. [n+i+vidy+anana+i Vao (nividiánan'i Vao) akanjo] ny zaza past+act+buy+circ+art Vao clothes the child The child was bought clothes for by Vao There is massive evidence (Keenan 1972, 1995, Pearson 2000) that the bracketed strings in (1a,b,c) are constituents, called here Predicate Phrases (PredPh). For example to form the Yes- No questions corresponding to (1a,b,c) it suffices to insert the particle ve at the right edge of the PredPh. Insertion internal to the PredPh is ungrammatical. Another example: the only relativizable position in (1a,b,c) is that of the NP external to the PredPh (henceforth the external argument, EA, a usage we take from Pearson 2000). Thus (2a,b,c) are grammatical; relativizing any other NP, as in (3), is not. (2) a. ny olona (izay) nividy akanjo hoan'ny zaza the person (that) bought clothes for the child b. ny akanjo (izay) novidin'i Vao hoan'ny zaza the clothes (that) were bought by Vao for the child c. ny zaza (izay) nividianan'i Vao akanjo the child (that) were bought+for by Vao clothes (3) *ny akanjo (izay) nividy hoan'ny zaza i Vao the clothes that bought for the child Vao Reading (3) through active nividy we understand that it is the clothes that bought something. The rest of (3) lacks a Theme and presents an NP, Vao, which lacks a semantic role. Similar ungrammaticality results when attempting to relativize NPs other than the EA from (1b and c). The EA in (1a,b,c) is replaceable with pronominal forms drawn from the following series, which we call nominative: (4) aho I; izahay we excl; isika we incl; ianao you sg; ianareo you pl; izy 3 sg or pl. This series contrasts with those in (5a), called here accusative, and (5b), called genitive. Items are given in the same order as in (4). (5) a. ahy; anay; antsika; anao, anareo, azy b. -ko, -nay, -(n)tsika, -nao, -nareo, -ny The accusative forms replace Patient and Theme arguments internal to the PredPh, as in (1a,c). The genitive forms are used for the Agent phrases in (1b,c) and for possessors in general: (6) ny trano 'the house'; ny trano+ko 'my house'; ny trano+ny 'his house' ny trano+nao 'your sg house' ny tranon'i Vao 'Vao's house' ny tranon-dRabe 'Rabe's house' Note the nasals in the last line, and see Paul (1996) for the complicated morphophonemics involved in binding genitives to their hosts, Definition Verbs which take a genitive argument will be called non-active; those which do not, active. Passives are non-actives which are roots or built by affixing roots (possibly reduplicated). Circumstantial verbs are non-active ones built by affixing active ones. Q These three classes of verbs are distinguished by properties in addition to those we chose as definitional. In particular, present tense active verbs (and their imperatives) take an m- prefix, whereas present tense non-active verbs (and their imperatives) have no prefix. (All voice forms except roots prefix n(o)- to mark past tense; all use h(o)- to mark future). Active verbs form imperatives by suffixing -a, whereas non-actives suffixe o (= /u/) or y (= /i/). Suffixation in general induces rightward stress shift in all voices and moods. Finally, the highest argument in the theta grid of an active verb is the external, nominative, one; it is the genitive one with non- active verbs. Keenan (2000) shows that the genitive Agent Phrase in non-actives forms a tight constituent with the verb to the exclusion of its other complements. The EAs of passives correspond to internal arguments of actives; those of circumstantial verbs typically have oblique semantic roles like Benefactive, Instrument, Locative, Temporal, Manner, ... Below we exhibit the different morphologies in each of the three verb classes. Rabenilaina (1998) and K&P (Keenan & Polinsky 1998) give more detailed exemplification. Rabenilaina (1993), Keenan (1995) and Pearson (2000) discuss the grammatical role of these voices. 1.1 Passives 1.1.1 root passives, in which the root itself suffixes genitive Agent phrases directly, as in (7a,b) are morphologically the simplest verb forms. They form imperatives as indicated, (7c). (7) a. Hadino+ny ny anarako forgotten+3gen the name+my My name is/was forgotten by him b. Heno+ko izy c. Henoy aho listened-to+1sg.gen he listen+imp I He was listened to by me Listen to me! Root passives include fantatra 'known', resy 'defeated', re 'heard', tadidy 'remembered', simba 'damaged', hita 'seen', tsinjo 'perceived from above', azo 'received, understood', vaky 'broken', tratra 'caught' and at least twenty to thirty others1. 1Here and later for purposes of immediate recognizability we give roots in their traditional, dictionary entry form. Formally on this view suffixation often induces an epenthetic consonant: root la Y lavina 'is refused', manda 'refuses'. In fact we agree with Erwin (1966) that it is more 1.1.2 Suffix passives are the most common type of passive, formed by suffixing the root with - (V)na, where V = i, e or a with i the most common and vowel absence rare. The choice of vowel is largely conditioned by the choice of root, but Rahajarizafy (1960) lists a few roots which take more than one suffix with different meanings. (8) a. no+vono+ina+Rabe (novonoin-dRabe) ilay akoho past+kill+pass+Rabe that (aforementioned) chicken That chicken was killed by Rabe b. ho+soratra+ana+Rasoa (ho soratan-dRasoa) ny taratasy fut+write+pass+Rasoa the letter The letter will be written by Rasoa We note that several (but not all) passive roots also have suffix passives (hadino / hadinoina; heno / henoina; tsinjo / tsinjovina,...). Root passives are more stative, suffix forms more dynamic. 1.1.3 Prefix passives are of three varieties: a-, voa- and tafa-. 1.1.3.1 a- passives ressemble suffix passives in forming past tense with n(o)- and forming imperatives. Some roots, like tao 'do' only have a- passives: atao 'is done', natoako 'was done by me', etc. But commonly double object roots will have both a suffix passive, whose EA is Goal, and an a- prefix passive, whose EA is Theme. Thus from the root róso we have (9) a. Rosó+ana vary ny vahiny b. Rosó+y vary izy advance+pass rice the guest(s) advance+imp rice 3nom The guests are served rice Serve him rice (lit: be+served rice he) (10) a. A+róso ny vary b. A+rosó+y ny vary pass+advance the rice pass+advance+imp the rice The rice is served Serve the rice (nom) (lit: be+served the rice) We note that in general prefixation does not induce stress shift. 1.1.3.2 voa- passives by contrast do not form imperatives or take past tense marking with n(o)-. Semantically they focus on the result of the action, understood to be completed, rather than the process, in distinction to the suffix passives and the a- prefix ones. voa- passives in Malagasy accurate to include this consonant as part of the root and account for its absence in terms of a vowel final template. are those which most ressemble those of English. (11) a. Voa+laza+ko izany b. Voa+fitika aho pass+say+1sg.gen that pass+deceive I I said that (lit: That was said by me) I was deceived 1.1.3.3 tafa- passives are like voa- passives in focussing on the final state not the process denoted by the verb; they do not mark past tense with n(o)- and do not form imperatives. In distinction to voa- passives they imply that completion of the action was unexpected. Either the action was difficult for the agent, as in (12a), or unintended, even spontaneous, as in (12b), where an Agent phrase is not possible. (12) a. Tafa+iditra+ko (tafiditro) ny omby pass+enter+1sg.gen the cow(s) I got the cows in (lit: The cows were made to enter by me) b.