Voice and valency morphology in Äiwoo

Abstract

This paper describes the function and distribution of the main morphological markers of voice and valency in the Oceanic language Äiwoo: the undergoervoice suffixes -i, -nyi(i), -ive, -eâ, and -nâ, and the circumstantial voice clitic =Cä. It compares these functions and distributions to those reconstructed for the Proto-Oceanic transitivizing morphemes *-i and *akin[i], and suggests pathways of change that can account for many of the present-day Äiwoo forms as being reflexes of these morphemes and of the 3sg object clitic *=a, though some of the formal differentiation remains unexplained. This analysis implies that Äiwoo has a Philippine-type symmetrical voice system with Oceanic morphology, an unusual state of affairs which has implications for our understanding of the transition from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Oceanic.