- Title
- Voice at the crossroads: symmetrical clause alternations in Äiwoo, Reef Islands, Solomon Islands
- Creator
- Naess, Åshild
- Relation
- Oceanic Linguistics Vol. 54, Issue 1, p. 270-307
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/ol.2015.0000
- Publisher
- University of Hawaii Press
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2015
- Description
- This paper argues that the Äiwoo language of the Reef Islands shows what could be characterized as a symmetrical voice system with three voices: an actor voice, an undergoer voice, and a circumstantial voice. Although it differs from better-described symmetrical voice systems in lacking a syntactic pivot, the overall pattern of morphosyntactic alternations, as well as the discourse- pragmatic function, is essentially that of a symmetrical voice system. Moreover, the Äiwoo system combines the syntactic characteristics of a "Philippine-type" symmetrical voice system with the morphological characteristics of an "Indonesian-type" system in a way that appears to be unusual. This analysis, while confirming the status of the Reefs-Santa Cruz language group to which Äiwoo belongs as Austronesian, raises doubts about their current classification as Oceanic, since the symmetrical voice system of Proto-Austronesian is usually assumed to have been lost by the time of Proto-Oceanic. Alternatively, the analysis may be taken to imply that current reconstructions of Proto-Oceanic morphosyntax must be revised. Overall, it adds to the complex picture of voice and transitivity-related systems in Austronesian languages, and to the challenges involved in understanding their historical relationships.
- Subject
- Äiwoo language; Reef Islands; Solomon Islands; linguistics
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1340288
- Identifier
- uon:28440
- Identifier
- ISSN:0029-8115
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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