302 Chapter 10 Modifications to argument structure
(81) %Ebu' e-kerra'-agi rote bi' Bibbi'.
mother OV-slice-AGI bread by aunt
‘Auntie sliced bread for Mother.’
With the verb root, giba ‘carry’, the situation is reversed. Sentences in which
both object voice and actor voice morphology occur are rejected by some
speakers (82a), while the form with only object voice morphology is generally
considered acceptable (82b).
(82) a. %Siti e-ngeba'-agi kothak bi' Marlena.
Siti OV-AV.carry-AGI box by Marlena
Marlena carried the box for Siti.’
b. Siti e-giba'-agi kothak bi' Marlena.
Siti OV-carry-AGI box by Marlena
‘Marlena carried the box for Siti.’
Unlike -e, -agi can be used in a sentence with no apparent change in the
alignment of arguments and grammatical relations. Thus, in addition to (74) and
(75), repeated here, the propositionally equivalent (83) and (84) are possible.
(74) a. Sa'diyah melle permen kaangguy na'-kana'.
Sa'diyah AV.buy candy for RED-child
‘Sa'diyah bought candy for the children.’
b. Sa'diyah melle-yagi na'-kana' permen.
Sa'diyah AV.buy-AGI RED-child candy
‘Sa'diyah bought the children candy.’
(75) a. Marlena ngeba kothak kaangguy Siti.
Marlena AV.carry box for Siti
‘Marlena carried the box for Siti.’
b. Marlena ngeba'-agi Siti kothak.
Marlena AV.carry-AGI Siti box
‘Marlena carried Siti the box.’
(83) Sa'diyah melle-yagi permen kaangguy na'-kana'.
Sa'diyah AV.buy-AGI candy for RED-child
‘Sa'diyah bought candy for the children.’