Re: reflexives and reciprocals

I'm coming in on this thread in the middle (having just returned to Conlang
after a prolonged absence) but here's my two cents:

In Tokana, reflexives and reciprocals are formed by adding the prefix _uma(k)-_
to the verb.  A verb may be reflexivised only if it is transitive, and one of
the arguments is marked with absolutive case.  The reflexive 'subject' is in the
absolutive case:

  Na  Tsion  kahte-n  Meli
  the.Erg  John  hit-the.Abs  Mary
  "John hit Mary"

  Ne  Tsion  uma-kahte
  the.Abs  John  Refl-hit
  "John hit himself"

  Ne  Tsion  em  Meli  uma-kahte
  the.Abs  John  and  Mary  Refl-hit
  "John and Mary hit each other"

N.B.:  The last example is actually ambiguous; it can also mean "John and Mary
hit themselves".  The reciprocal reading is favoured because the conjunction
_em_
"and" implies a tight union between the two conjuncts, implying that they are
acting together to perform a single action.  If the reflexive reading (where
John and Mary each hit themselves) were intended, a different conjunction would
have been used.

An alternative way of forming the reciprocal is to use the distributive particle
_ala_ "each" in combination with the noun _iap_ "other":

  Ne  Tsion  em  Meli  ala  kahte-n  iap
  the.Abs  John  and  Mary  each  hit-the.Abs  other
  "John and Mary each hit the other"

This construction is favoured if the two participants are acting in turn rather
than at once.  So if the situation is that John and Mary were slugging it out,
_Ne Tsion em Meli umakahte_ would be used, whereas if John first hit Mary and
then she retaliated by hitting John back, _Ne Tsion em Meli ala kahten iap_
would be used.

Matt.