286 Chapter 10 Modifications to argument structure
(13) a. Siti ngerem pesse-na dha' Amir/bang.
Siti AV.send money-DEF to Amir/bank
‘Siti sent her money to Amir/the bank.’
b. Siti ngerem-e Amir/bang pesse.
Siti AV.send-LOC Amir/bank money
‘Siti sent Amir/the bank money.’
As reflected in the English translations, both Madurese and English have the
same animacy restriction.
1.2 ‘Give’
A ditransitive with a goal/location argument that notably does not show this
kind of alternation is the verb expressing the notion ‘give’. The verb ‘give’ nev-
er takes the locative suffix. With berri' ‘give’, the object voice exclusively takes
the recipient as subjects; thus the paradigm in (14-16).
(14) Guru-na a-berri' buku ka red-mored.
teacher-DEF AV-give book to RED-student
‘The teacher gave a book to the students.’
(15) *Buku-na e-berri' guru-na ka red-mored.
book-DEF OV-give teacher-DEF to RED-student
(The book was given by the teacher to the students .)
(16) Red-mored e-berri' buku bi' guru-na.
RED-student OV-give book by teacher-DEF
‘The students were given a book by the teacher.’
In the actor voice, the theme is object and the recipient a PP (14). Despite this,
if the theme is the subject of the object voice clause, the sentence is ungrammat-
ical (15). The only possible subject when berri' is in the object voice is the reci-
pient, as in (16).
In order for the theme of giving to be the subject of the object voice, a
different verb is used, bagi. And with bagi the recipient cannot be the object
voice subject (19).
(17) Guru-na magi buku ka red-mored.
teacher-DEF AV-give book to RED-student
‘The teacher gave a book to the students.’