Verbal voice
From: | Tom Wier <artabanos@...> |
Date: | Wednesday, May 31, 2000, 18:10 |
I've been reading Dixon's _Ergativity_, and he has this to say
about Dyirbal's "instrumentive" derivation (p. 170-171):
"Now Dyirbal has a derivation -- which we can call 'instrumentive' --
that places an underlying instrumental NP into derived O function,
demoting the underlying O into dative case, leaving A as is, and
marking the verb with the suffix -ma-l (which, like antipassive -Na-y,
comes between verb root and final inflection).
(65) yabu Numa-Ngu balga-n yugu-Ngu
mother+ABS(O) father-ERG(A) hit-NONFUT stick-INST
father hit mother with a stick.
Thus, from (65) is derived:
(66) yugu Numa-Ngu balgal-ma-n yabu-gu
stick(O) father-ERG(A) hit-INSTV-NONFUT mother-DAT
father used a stick to hit mother"
("N" = [N])
I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before. Do any conlangs
have this, or anything similar? Anybody know of any other natlangs
like this?
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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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