The suffix -agi 301
The object voice variants of these clauses have both expected and unex-
pected features.
(78) a. Na'-kana' e-melle-yagi permen bi' Sa'diyah.
RED-child OV-AV.buy-AGI candy by Sa'diyah
‘Sa'diyah bought the children candy.’
b. *Permen e-melle-yagi na'-kana' bi' Sa'diyah.
candy OV-AV.buy-AGI RED-child by Sa'diyah
(79) a. Ebu' e-ngerra'-agi rote bi' Bibbi'.
mother OV-AV.slice-AGI bread by aunt
‘Auntie sliced bread for Mother.’
b. *Rote e-ngerra'-agi Ebu' bi' Bibbi'.
bread OV-AV.slice-AGI mother by aunt
As is true of the sentences with -e and the corresponding sentences in Indone-
sian and Javanese, with the -agi suffix only the beneficiary and not the theme
can be the subject of the object voice clause; thus, (78a) and (79a) are accepta-
ble while (78b) and (79b) are not.^1 Distinct from Indonesian and Javanese (and
the locative sentences in Madurese), however, in these clauses the verb stem
tends to retain the actor voice morpheme (although where this is permissible
and/or obligatory is subject to a great deal of speaker variation). Thus, in (78)
the ng- prefix, realized here as [m], occurs obligatorily on the verb. Without the
actor voice morphology, the clause is unacceptable (all speakers I have con-
sulted report this).
(80) *Na'-kana' e-belli-yagi permen bi' Sa'diyah.
RED-child OV-buy-AGI candy by Sa'diyah
(Sa'diyah bought the children candy.)
In (79), the actor voice ng- prefix again occurs on the verb root kerra' ‘slice’.
Again, without the morphology, the clause is largely considered unacceptable.^2
(^1) The ungrammatical sentences in which the theme object is the subject of the object
voice (78b) and (79b) are still unacceptable if the actor voice morpheme in the a-
variants is absent.
(^2) Some speakers accept (81) as grammatical, although they prefer (79), which includes
the actor voice morpheme.