Re: Description question

--- You wrote:
Okay, in my new conlang Dunamy I have sentences like this (morphemes
separated by periods):

    gges.i tak.s ara gae
    chase  dog   ?   cat
    "The dog chases the cat."

    pi.ggés gae.s ara tak
    chase   dog   ?   cat
    "The cat is chased by the dog."

[<Ara> is a word that marks 'gae' as the patient in the first sentence and
'tak' as the agent in the second.  Also the acute in <piggés> is just a
spelling change to mark that the pronunciation remains the same.]

This looks like active and passive but that doesn't seem quite right.  Is
there a better way to describe this?  And what do I call <ara>?
--- end of quote ---

You could call the _-i_ form the "direct" (or "subject-topic") form and the _pi-_
form the "inverse" (or "object-topic" form). The term "inverse" is common for
constructions which topicalize or 'foreground' a direct object without
eliminating the subject (or 'backgrounding' the subject by rendering it as an
oblique "by" phrase). The terms "subject-topic" and "object-topic" come from
the literature on Philippine-style voicing systems, which have been discussed
rather extensively on this list (you can look in the archives under 'trigger
systems', or ask Kristian Jensen or Barry Garcia to give you the basics...).

As for what to call _ara_, well... Does it really need a name? It can be
described fairly succinctly as a "marker of core (subject/object) case used for
non-topics". If you need a label for it, how about "non-topic case-marker"?

Cheers,
Matt.

Matt Pearson
Department of Linguistics
Reed College
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd
Portland, OR 97202 USA
ph:  503-771-1112 (x 7618)

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