10.0 Introduction
This chapter discusses reciprocal constructions in Kavalan. It is structured as follows: section 10.1 introduces the forms of reciprocals. Section 10.2 investigates the functions expressed by the reciprocal marker sim-. In section 10.3, we will discuss the plural-subject requirement of the sim-marked constructions. Issues concerning the transitivity of the reciprocal constructions will be examined in section 10.4. Finally, the summary of this chapter is provided in section 10.5.
10.1 Forms
There are three ways to express reciprocal relations in Kavalan: (i) verbal reciprocal markers sim- and ma-, (ii) inherent reciprocal verbs, and (iii) a nominal reciprocal marker nan-.
10.1.1 Verbal reciprocal markers 10.1.1.1 The marker sim-
The prefix
sim- is used to express reciprocals in Kavalan. It can be productively
affixed to almost every verb. For instance,(1) a. p-em-ukun ya ci buya ci abas-an
AF-hit NOM NCM Buya NCM Abas-LOC
‘Buya hit Abas.’
b. sim-pukun ya ci buya atu ci utay
REC-hit NOM NCM Buya and NCM Utay
‘Buya and Utay hit each other.’
(2) a. q-em-nut ya ci buya ci abas-an
AF-angry NOM NCM Buya NCM Abas-LOC
‘Buya is mad at Abas.’
b. sim-qenut ya ci buya ci abas
REC-angry NOM NCM Buya NCM Abas
‘Buya and Abas are mad at each other.’
(3) a. qaymamun-an ni abas ci buya slander-PF GEN Abas NCM Buya ‘Abas slandered Buya.’
b. pataz sim-qaymamun qanyawu
always REC-slander 3PL.NOM
‘They always slander each other.’
As shown in (1) – (3), a reciprocal construction is formed by marking the verb with a prefix sim-. By comparing example (a) and (b), it can be seen that the sim- is added to the base form of the verbs. However, although the AF markers disappear after sim- is affixed in (1) – (3), the reciprocal verbs behave as the AF verbs, which can be observed by the case markers of the arguments. Another thing that worth noticing is that when we compare the reciprocal constructions and their non-reciprocal counterparts, it is found that the number of arguments decreases once the reciprocal marker is affixed to the verbs. In example (a)s of (1) – (3), the verbs take two arguments – a subject and an object. In their reciprocal counterparts, however, the same verbs marked by sim- take only one plural argument. It shows that the occurrence of the reciprocal marker lowers the transitivity of the clause. More details concerning the transitivity in reciprocal constructions will be discussed in section 7.4.
In addition to the reciprocal marker sim-, another affix qa- as in (4) is occasionally found to occur in the reciprocal form of some verbs.
(4) sim-qa-ipes qanyawu REC-QA-dislike 3PL.NOM
‘They dislike each other.’
What are the nature and the function of this affix qa? When we look into relevant data of other Formosan studies, it is found that qa- (or its phonological variations, such as ka- or ’a) is used to mark the stativity of verbs in several Formosan languages, such as Mantuauran Rukai, Mayrinax Atayal, Pazeh, and Southern Paiwan (Huang 2000, Zeitoun and Huang 2000). It usually occurs in non-finite verb constructions, including causative, imperative and irrealis constructions. In Kavalan, in addition to the non-finite verb constructions mentioned above, qa- also occurs in the reciprocal constructions of stative verbs.
10.1.1.2 The marker ma-
For a few verbs in Kavalan there is another reciprocal marker ma-20 available.
These verbs include kawit ‘hold hands’, paRu ‘hug’, qatabung ‘meet’, and seles
‘change’. What these verbs have in common is that semantically they more or less imply reciprocity. The following are some examples.
(5) a. ma-kawit ci abas atu ci buya
MA-hold_hands NCM Abas and NCM Buya
‘Abas and Buya hold hands.’
b. sim-kawit ci abas atu ci buya
REC-hold_hands NCM Abas and NCM Buya
‘Abas and Buya hold hands.’
20 The marker ma- also has several other functions, including as a passive marker as in (i), past tense marker as in (ii) and middle voice marker as in (iii).
(i) ma-balyu-ti (ni abas) repaw ’nay MA-sell-PFV GEN Abas house that
‘The house is sold (by Abas).’
(ii) ma-lizaq ayku ci utay-an
MA-like 1SG.NOM NCM Utay-LOC
‘I used to like Utay.’
(iii) bawa ’nay ma-salin ta-iRuR-an
boat that MA-float LOC-river-LOC
‘The boat floats on the river.’
(6) a. ma-paRu qanyawu
MA-hug 3PL.NOM
‘They hug.’
b. sim-paRu qanyawu
REC-hug 3PL.NOM
‘They hug.’
(7) a. ma-qatabung-imi21
MA-meet-1PL.EXCL.NOM
‘We meet.’
b. sim-qatabung-imi
REC-meet-1PL.EXCL.NOM
‘We meet.’
(8) a. ma-seles-imi tu qulus MA-change-1PL.EXCL.NOM ACC clothes ‘We exchange clothes.’
b. sim-selses-imi tu qulus
REC-change-1PL.EXCL.NOM ACC clothes ‘We exchange clothes.’
From (5) – (8) we can see that the marker ma- can interchange with another reciprocal marker sim- without altering the meaning of the clauses. However, unlike
sim-, the distribution of ma- is much more restricted. Therefore, it does not seem to be
the case that there are two reciprocal markers in Kavalan.10.1.2 Reciprocal verbs
In many languages, we can often find some verbs, such as exchange, and meet, that do not need any additional reciprocal marker to express a reciprocal situation. Let us take the verb me’
¨ ’e ‘exchange’ in Tsou as an example.
21 ma-qatabung can be further integrated and becomes matabung.
(9) Tsou
mo me’¨’e to ceopungu ’o mo’o ho Aux exchange.AF ACC hat NOM Mo’o and yangui
Yangui
‘Mo’o and Yangui exchange hats.’
In (9) me’
¨ ’e ‘exchange’ takes one plural argument. It describes a situation in which
each of the members of the plural argument conducts the same action, i.e., giving somebody a hat in exchange of another hat, towards other member(s) of the group.The commonly used reciprocal marker yupa- as in (10) does not appear in (9) and yet it still expresses a reciprocal meaning. Such verbs that inherently express a reciprocal situation are called reciprocal verbs.
(10) Tsou
mo yupa-baito si o-’oko
Aux REC-see.AF NOM RED-child
‘The children see each other.’
Now let us turn back to Kavalan. When we examine the two verbs that are commonly inherent reciprocal verbs in other languages such as English and Tsou –
‘meet’ and ‘exchange’, it is found that, surprisingly, without the reciprocal marker, these verbs in Kavalan do not express reciprocal meanings.
(11) a. qatabung ayku ci abas-an
meet 1SG.NOM NCM Abas-LOC
(i) ‘I met Abas.’
(ii) * ‘I and Abas met.’
b. sim-qatabung ya ci abas atu ci utay
REC-meet NOM NCM Abas and NCM Utay
‘Abas and Utay met.’
(12) a. seles tu qulus-na qanyawu change ACC clothes-3.GEN 3PL.NOM (i) ‘They change clothes.’
(ii) * ‘They exchange clothes.’
b. sim-selus tu qulus-na qanyawu REC-change ACC clothes-3.GEN 3PL.NOM ‘They exchange clothes.’
As can been seen in the translation, in (11) – (12), example (b)s all express a bi-directional act while example (a)s express a uni-directional act. In (11a), one of the arguments, i.e. I, is the one who met someone, and another argument Abas is the one being met. Example (11b), on the other hand, describes the situation in which Abas and Utay met each other. Similarly, (12a) expresses a situation in which the clothes they bought do not fit and they want to change clothes with the seller. But in (12b), the members of third person plural subject qanyawu change clothes with another member of the group qanyawu.
The fact that