qiihoskeh | VOS: Actant Morphology

last edited: 2006.Jul.15 Sat

Word Classification

Lexical nouns can function as syntactical verbs as well as syntactical nouns and lexical verbs and adjectives can function both as syntactical verbs and as syntactical adjectives. The word's valence is probably more important.

* The monovalent words include intransitive lexical verbs, lexical adjectives, and most lexical nouns.
* The divalent words include transitive lexical verbs and lexical nouns denoting relationships, such as kinship terms and words for body parts.
* The trivalent words are the ditransitive lexical verbs.

Actant Affixes

The following table shows the actants. Subjects are marked using prefixes and objects using suffixes. There are two subject paradigms, depending on whether the word has imperative mood or not. Entries such as m(u)- indicate that the vowel is dropped under certain phonological conditions. Note the multiple 3rd person actants. Their exact use depends on how the word functions in the sentence.

Person	Prefixes				Suffixes		Description	Number
Person	Other		Imperative		Suffixes		Description	Number
1st	1S-	m(u)-	1S-	m(u)-	-1S	-m(u)		singular
	1P-	me-	1P-	me-	-1P	-me		exclusive plural
	1N-	he-	1N-	he-	-1N	-he		inclusive plural
2nd	2S-	k(u)-	2.	(none)	-2S	-k(u)		singular
2nd	2P-	ke-	2.	(none)	-2P	-ke		plural
3rd	3.	(none)	3A-	c(i)-	-3A	-c(i)	Animate	any number
	3.	(none)	3I-	l(u)-	-3I	-l(u)	Inanimate
	3H-	to-	3H-	to-			Head
					-3D	-n(u)	Dependent
any	U-	so-	U-	so-	.U	(none)	Unspecified
					-Rfx	-ri	Reflexive
					-Rel	-ro	Relative

There may also be distinct subject paradigms for Impersonal and Modal words.

Monovalent Words

Monovalent words have a single argument, A1, specifying the word's subject. The actants for A1 are the prefixes. When A1 takes 3., a subject phrase appears and if the word functions as a main verb, A1 acts as a head (and otherwise as a dependent). If the word functions as a complement or adjunct verb, the prefix 3H- can be used to make A1 act as a head. If the word is a syntactical noun or adjective, no prefix is possible; A1 must take 3..

Examples:

3.(sleep) 3.(dog) 3.(brown)	"A brown dog is sleeping."
run perro tus

Divalent Words

Divalent words have an additional argument, A2, specifying either the words's object or its possessor. The actants for A1 are the suffixes.

If the word functions as a main verb, this scheme is used:
* A1 and A2 are always heads
* 3H- and -3D are not used

If the word functions as a complement or adjunct verb, this scheme is used:
* 3. makes A1 a dependent; otherwise A1 is a head
* -3D makes A2 a dependent; otherwise A2 is a head

If the word functions as a syntactical noun or adjective, this scheme is used:
* 3. makes A1 a dependent; otherwise A1 is a head
* -3D makes A2 a dependent, but is used only with 3.
* -3A and -3I make A2 act like a dependent only with 3H-

Examples:

3.(heard)-3A Def-3.(dog) 3.John	"John heard the dog."
hox-ci ne-berro Hwaani.
3.(dog) Def-3H-(heard)-3A 3.John	"It was a dog that John heard."
perro ne-do-hox-ci Hwaani.
3.(who) Def-3.(heard)-3A Def-3.(dog)	"Who heard the dog?"
cobi ne-hox-ci ne-berro?
1S-(heard).U	"I heard."
mu-hox.
U-(saw)-3I 3.(tree)	"A tree was seen."
so-naf-lu tokpa.

Trivalent Words

Trivalent words have a third argument, A3, specifying the direct object (A2 now specifies the indirect object). A3 which is always (or at least normally) inanimate and takes either -3I, -3D, or .U. For these words, A2 can't take -3I.

If the word functions as a main verb, this scheme is used:
* A1, A2, and A3 are always heads
* 3H- and -3D are not used

If the word functions as a complement or adjunct verb, this scheme is used:
* 3. makes A1 a dependent; otherwise A1 is a head
* -3D makes A2 or A3 a dependent (depending on position); otherwise these are heads

If the word functions as a syntactical noun or adjective, this scheme is used:
* 3. makes A1 a dependent; otherwise A1 is a head
* -3D makes A2 or A3 a dependent (depending on position), but is used only with 3.
* -3A or -3I (depending on the gender required by context) makes A2 act like a dependent only with 3H-

Examples:

3.(gave)-3A-3I 3.(book) Def-3.(boy) 3.John	"John gave the boy a book."
mex-ci-l libro ne-jikko Hwaani.
1S-(heard)-3A Def-3.(boy) 3H-(gave)-3A-3I 3.(book) 3.John	"I heard the boy John gave a book to."
mu-hox-ci ne-jikko to-mex-ci-l libro Hwaani.
1S-(saw)-3I Def-3.(book) 3H-(gave)-3A-3I 3.(boy) 3.John	"I saw the book John gave to a boy."
mu-naf-lu ne-libro to-mex-ci-l cikko Hwaani.
2S-Ipf-(know)-3A Def-3.(man) 3.(gave)-3A-3I 3.(book) Def-3.(boy)	"You know the man who gave the boy a book."
k-pa-lah-ci ne-(man) mex-ci-l libro ne-jikko.

Argument Structure Classes

This will show which roles are matched with which arguments for each word class.

	A1	A2	A3
Trivalent	Donor	Recipient	Object
Divalent	Agent	Patient
	Perceiver	Image
	Mobile	Stabile
	Possessum	Possessor
Monovalent	Actor
Monovalent	Subject

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hi, Quiet Words. (1.) I like all of your "VOS Actant Morphology" entry so far. (2.) I appreciate that you recognized a distinction may be necessary between "divalent" and "monotransitive", and between "trivalent" and "ditransitive". (3.) What do the S, the P, the N, the A, the I, the H, the D, the U, and the Rfx stand for in your table? My guesses; S stands for Singular. P stands for Plural. N stands for iNclusive. A stands for Animate? (maybe Agent?) I stands for Inanimate? (maybe Indefinite?) H stands for Human. D --- can't tell. Definite? Dative? what? U --- even less idea. Rfx stands for Reflexive. (4.) Do you feel no need to specifically describe how you handle those notions which are expressed in some languages as "semi-transitive" -- that is, not quite transitive and not quite intransitive, according to "Hopper and Thompson's (1980) transitivity parameters"? (You can look up "semitransitive" on Google.) (5.) In particular what about the "bivalent intransitive" clauses in some languages? (In effect, these are "intransitive" because they have no _direct_ object, but "bivalent" (you'd say "divalent) because they have a second core participant other than the subject. You might call it an "indirect object". (Which referents are "core terms" is apparently language-specific; and the same has been claimed for "indirect objects".) In English the glosses of some of these "bivalent intransitives" would have a basically reflexive subject and something that might be called an "indirect object"; example, "Don't concern yourself with that".) (You can look up "bivalent intransitive" on Google.)

Hi, Tom.
Your response is very helpful.
(2) I didn't want to describe "mother" or "hand" as transitive.
(3) H is Head, D is Dependent, and U is Unspecified.
(4) I googled but I'm still not clear on what semitransitive is.
(5) Valence is what's important. I can see though that I need to add a list of the different word classes indicating what role goes with what argument.

By the way, "anonymous" comments don't show up until I "unscreen" them.

VOS: Actant Morphology