The suffix -agi 303
(84) Marlena ngeba'-agi kothak kaangguy Siti.
Marlena AV.carry-AGI box for Siti
‘Marlena carried the box for Siti.’
In (83) and (84), the beneficiary is in a PP headed by kaangguy and the theme is
immediately postverbal. Thus, the surface syntactic structure is like that in (74a)
and (75a), respectively. Speakers report no difference in meaning between the
sentences in (74) and (83) or (75) and (84).
When the -agi suffix occurs together with the prepositional beneficiary,
the theme occurs as the subject of the clause, not the beneficiary. This is illu-
strated in (85) and (86).
(85) Permen-na e-melle-yagi Sa'diyah kaangguy na'-kana'.
candy-DEF OV-AV.buy-AGI Sa'diyah for RED-child
‘Sa'diyah bought candy for the children.’
(86) Rote rowa e-kerra'-agi Bibbi' kaangguy Ebu'.
bread that OV-slice-AGI aunt for mother
‘Auntie sliced the bread for Mother.’
This is distinct from the object voice structures in (78) and (79), in which belli
‘buy’ and kerra' ‘slice’ are suffixed with -agi. There the beneficiary must be the
subject (78a) and (79a). If the theme occurs as the subject and the beneficiary as
an NP object, the sentences are ungrammatical, (78b) and (79b).
When -agi affixed to an intransitive root, the result is usually not a bene-
factive interpretation but a causative interpretation, with the object as causee, as
in (87).
(87) Siti ngedhung-ngagi baji'-na.
Siti AV.sleep-AGI baby-DEF
‘Siti put her baby to sleep.’
In (87), the object, baji'na ‘her baby’, is the causee. An exception to this is with
verbs whose roots contain the element that would be the theme argument of the
predicate. For instance, sassa refers specifically to washing clothes, and with
actor voice morphology derives a verb meaning ‘to do laundry’.
(88) Ebu a-sassa.
mother AV-wash
‘Mother washed clothes.’
When suffixed with -agi, a bare NP benefactive argument is added.