Re: Core case roles

Quoting Josh Roth <Fuscian@...>:

> Kar Marinam would treat the stone as an instrument in both
> instances, and a speaker would probably say that there is
> an agent too, that really caused the action, though we just
> don't know or want to say what it is (maybe a spirit or
> something).
Phaleran handles this in one of two ways.  First, it can use
the middle form of the transitive verb _rošwa_ "break", which
agrees with the patient:

  into       gellas     rošwaminti
  stone.INST window.ABS break.MID.3SgPfRe.S
  "The window broke (because of the stone)"

Alternatively, the instrument can be focused by a valence
changing operation _-ssa_, whereby the instrument receives
absolutive marking, and the patient is demoted to a dative
phrase that can be optionally deleted:

  î         (gellasuo) rošwassanti
  stone.ABS window.DAT break.INST.3SgPfRe.S
  "The stone broke (the window)."

In some dialects, this instrument-focuser has entirely replaced
the antipassive, which in the Standard normally takes the form
of the detransitivizer _-bro_ plus an antipassive prefix _s-_.

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Thomas Wier
Dept. of Linguistics  "Nihil magis praestandum est quam ne pecorum ritu
University of Chicago sequamur antecedentium gregem, pergentes non qua
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