Affixation 105
1.1.7 Causative pa-, /pa/
The prefix pa- derives causative verbs from verb roots (27) and adjectival roots
(28). The prefixed forms are given in the actor voice (hence ma- and not pa-) to
avoid certain types of ambiguity that can arise because there are other pa- used
in the derivation of instrumental, agentive, and process nominals, as described
in section 1.2.4.^5
(27) tedhung ‘sleep’ matedhung ‘cause to sleep’
labu ‘fall’ malabu ‘cause to fall’
toles ‘write’ manoles ‘help someone write’
keco' ‘steal’ mangeco' ‘teach to steal’
(28) lesso ‘tired’ malesso ‘cause to be tired’
pote ‘white’ mapote ‘make white’
becce' ‘good’ mabecce' ‘fix’
There is a type of ambiguity that is not avoided by using the actor voice form.
1.1.8 Irrealis -a, /a/
The suffix -a inflects verb stems to indicate irrealis mood. It is used to denote
future and unrealized actions. The irrealis is discussed in detail in Chapter 9
section 2.
(29) entar ‘go’ entara ‘will/may go’
tompa ‘ride’ nompa'a ‘will/may ride’
kerem ‘send’ ngerema ‘will/may send’
tedhung ‘sleep’ tedhunga ‘will/may sleep’
1.1.9 Iterative -an, /an/
As described at the beginning of section 1, when suffixed to some verb stems,
- an denotes frequent, repetitive or multiple actions (again, these forms are given
in the actor voice to avoid unnecessary ambiguity).
(30) berka' ‘run’ berka'an ‘run regularly’
ajar ‘study’ ajaran ‘study often’
(^5) For example, as described in section 1.2.4, palangoy can mean 'proficient swimmer'.
However, it can also mean 'cause someone to swim'. This ambiguity does not arise with
malangoy, which can only have a causative interpretation.