Re: THEORY: unergative

John L. Leland wrote:

> My languages handle this in different ways. Rihana-ye has the verb dako (give
> birth, literally givea child) used with the woman as subject and the child as
> object, and if the child is subject the same verb is used in the passive
> (dako-si). In other words, Rihana-ye follows roughly the English pattern. E.g. ka
> bada dako: the woman bears ason.
> Bada ka-je dako-si: the son is born by the woman.
Tirelat uses the same root "kazhna" for giving birth and laying eggs.

su  kiiva i -kazhna    -lin my  mozu
NOM woman 3s-give.birth     ACC baby
the woman gave birth to a baby

su  linaar i -kazhna-lin my  dzai
NOM dragon 3s-lay        ACC egg
the dragon laid an egg

(-lin is hearsay, past tense, perfective.)

> All these words would have the mother as subject and the child as object.
> However, banty would mean "be born" and would have the child as subject. It is an
> active verb in which the child is seen as doing the action, not a passive
> construction.
Normally Tirelat would use a passive:
su  rasha i -ru  -kazhna    -lin
NOM child 3s-PASS-give.birth
the child was born

But I wonder if it could be possible to use the middle voice here:

su  rasha i -mu -kazhna    -lin
NOM child 3s-MID-give.birth
the child, umm, "came forth", as you put it.

(Tirelat "rasha" is "child" in the sense of "offspring; son or
daughter"; for "child" in the sense of "young person", the word "naraan"
is used.)