Re: Passive and active....

Barry Garcia <Barry_Garcia@...> wrote:
>
> So, how do all of your languages handle active and passive voice, if at
> all?
I'm partial towards marking voice in verbs, probably because
using a simple 'to be + participle' construction looks unexotic
(to me, that is). In Draseléq, I have both passive and middle
voice marked in the verb, creating a new stem:

        nai(l)- 'to see' > nailim(b)- 'to be seen'

For Wamen, which I'm now developing, I use a direct/inverse
mark on the verb. Direct means the subject is the topic, and
inverse means the object is the topic (don't know yet what
happens to obliques, but there won't be another mark, so it's
not going to be a traditional trigger-focus system):

        Aar ema sama.
        dad mom look.DIR
        'Dad looks at mom.'

        Aar ema samur.
        dad mom look.INV
        'Mom looks at dad.'
        (or better, 'It is dad whom mom looks at.')

There's no special emphasis on the subject in direct-verb
sentences; maybe I'll use a topic marker -- but I don't
want it to be a Japanese clone.


--Pablo Flores
  http://www.geocities.com/pablo-david/index.html
  http://www.geocities.com/pablo-david/draseleq.html