Abstract
It has been argued in the literature that morpho-syntactically agents are universally more prominent than patients. At first sight, this claim seems to be challenged by so called symmetrical voice languages because these languages show no preference for agents to be the privileged syntactic argument (PSA). They do thus not display an obvious syntactic prominence of agents. However, this paper will argue that even symmetrical voice languages show instances of agent prominence. These instances are not reflected in a default linking of agents to PSA function, but rather in a slightly more subtle manner: First, agents always function as binders to reflexive pronouns, regardless of position or grammatical function. Second, agent properties like volitionality, ability and control are reflected in verbal morphology, even in undergoer voice construction in which the agent is not the PSA. This is the case in potentive, stative, and causative construction.
Acknowledgments
We are indebted to Nikolaus P. Himmelmann for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and to Else Gellinek for improving style and grammar.
Abbreviations
- 1
first person
- 3
third person
- av
actor voice
- caus
causative
- dat
dative
- def
definite
- det
determiner
- dist
distal
- gen
genitive
- ger
gerund
- hon
honorific article
- incpl
incompletive
- loc
locative
- med
mediative
- neg
negation
- nom
nominative
- p
plural
- pass
passive
- pn
personal name
- pot
potentive
- rls
realis
- s
singular
- st
stative
- uv
undergoer voice
- ven
venitive
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Differential object marking in Standard Turkish and Caucasian Urum
- Causative constructions in Ainu: A typological perspective with remarks on the diachrony
- Towards a semantic map for intensifying particles: Evidence from Avar
- The oblique phrase and the order of the relative construction
- Agent prominence in symmetrical voice languages
- Review article
- Typology of body part appellations
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Differential object marking in Standard Turkish and Caucasian Urum
- Causative constructions in Ainu: A typological perspective with remarks on the diachrony
- Towards a semantic map for intensifying particles: Evidence from Avar
- The oblique phrase and the order of the relative construction
- Agent prominence in symmetrical voice languages
- Review article
- Typology of body part appellations