Squliq Atayal, like most other Formosan languages, has been traditionally regarded as having a remarkable four-way voice system to express an agreement between a verbal predicate and the thematic role of its subject.
The first voice to be discussed is Patient Voice, which takes patient as the subject and the voice affix on the verb is -un. (2.45) is an example.
(2.45)
a. (Sinica Archive: 12-001-a)
a maki’ qutux mrkyas ga’, kyal-un=nya’
FIL exist.AV one young.man TOP speak-PV=3SG.GEN
yutas=nya’ ma’.
grandfather=3SG.GEN QUOT
‘There was a man who told something to an old man.’
b. (Sinica Archive: 20-003-a)
baha’ m-swa’ raral qasa’ mga’,
how.come AV-why in.the.past that QUOT:TOP
shu-n=naha’ qu’ trakis mru.
pound.rice-PV=3PL.GEN NOM millet QUOT:and
‘In the past, they pounded the millet.’
The second voice construction is the Locative Voice construction, whose subject is a location argument and the voice affix is -an, as illustrated in (2.46):
(2.46)
a. (Sinica Archive: 01-015-d)
kta-n qu’ hongu’ qani’ mga’, “ay”, see-LV NOM bridge this QUOT:TOP EXCL
m-nglung qu’ mit qani’ lma’.
AV-think NOM ass this FP:QUOT
‘After it saw the bridge, the ass sighed (with disappointment) and thought.’
b. (Sinica Archive: 01-032-c)
a s’un-an qsya’ kwara’ sbus qani’ lga’, wa’,
FIL fill-LV water all cotton this FP:TOP EXCL
si’ gluw l-lyung qani’.
just together RED-river this
‘When cotton was filled with water, (the ass) went with the water.’
The third voice construction is the Instrument/Beneficiary Voice construction, in which the subject denotes instrument or beneficiary participant in the event specified by a verb affixed with a s- voice marker. Examples are given in (2.46):
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(2.47)
a. (Sinica Archive: 08-003-c)
s-’pux=nya’ babaw=nya’ mga’.
CV-press=3SG.GEN above=3SG.GEN QUOT:FP
‘She pressed herself (with stalks of pigeon peas).’
b. (Sinica Archive: 14-003-c; 14-004-a)
“musa’ hya’ nanak maniq.” s-sulin=naha’ btunux
ASP 3SG.NEU only eat.AV CV-burn=3PL.GEN stone lma’.
FP:QUOT
‘“Only he can eat (what we have caught).” They burned stone(s) for (him).’
The last voice construction is the AV construction where the voice affix is m-,
<m>, or the verb stem alone, and its subject covers a variety of thematic roles: agent, patient, theme, or experiencer. In the traditional analysis, agent is used as a cover term for these distinct roles. Consider the following examples:
(2.48)
a. (Sinica Archive: 10-024-b)
g<m>uyaw=sami l-lyung lru, m-usa’
<AV>wade.across.a.river=1PE.NOM RED-river FP:and AV-go neywan la’.
Neiuan FP
‘We waded across the river to go to Neiuan.’
b. (Sinica Archive: 01-025-g)
m<s>qsya’ qu’ cimu’ la ma’.
AV<become>water NOM salt FP QUOT
‘Salt melted in water.’
c. (Sinica Archive: 16-013-e)
lokah mgey qu’ mlikuy giy ini’=naha’
major(.AV) run.away.AV NOM male because NEG=3PL.GEN
pyang-i’ k<m>ut shya’ rwa’.
easy-UV.NEG <AV>cut that:3SG.NEU FP
‘(Contrarily,) men were good at fleeing so they were not easy.’
In addition to the various markers which are affixed to a verbal predicate in the clause, categories like aspect, tense, and mood can also be marked on the predicate.
This is a cross-linguistic behavior for a verbal predicate (Comrie 1976; Bybee 1985a:13). In Squliq Atayal, the five basic tense/aspect/mood (TAM) categories are neutral, future, past, imperative and subjunctive.
A neutral voice form is used to describe habitual situations, whether they appear in a past event or not. In a habitual situation, some specific form is used to specify the subject of a voice construction. In (2.48), m- in musa’, -un in (g)al-un and puzy-un, -an in sy-an, and s- in s-hngaw are neutral forms for each of the voice constructions. It is worth noticing that the neutral form is also used in realis situations (Givón 1994:152).
(2.48)
a. (Sinica Archive: 09-001-a, 09-002-b)
a (b)nkis=ta’ raral qasa’, te raral qasa’
FIL old.man=1PI.GEN in.the.past that LOC in.the.past that ga’, m-usa’ rgyax ga’, ini’ sabu’ bwax rwa’.
TOP AV-go mountain TOP NEG pack husked.rice FP
(g)al-un=naha’ bwax bwax qasa’ lga’,
take-PV=3PL.GEN husked.rice husked.rice that FP:TOP
puzy-un=naha’ ru qutux nabe’ lma’ qu’ bwax cook-PV=3PL.GEN and one pot FP:QUOT NOM husked.rice qasa’ ga’.
that FP
‘In the past, when the elders went to the mountain, they didn’t pack up
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husked rice. They took the husked rice, they cooked it, and there came a pot (of rice) afterwards.’
b. (Sinica Archive: 12-031-b, 12-031-c, 12-031-d)
baha’ maki’ qu’… baha’ si’ sy-an rahaw how.come exist.AV NOM how.come just put-LV trap
qu’ ungat alup=nya’ pi. ungat alup. (g)al-un, QU’ NEG leaf.bud=3SG.GEN FP NEG leaf.bud take-PV
(g)al-un=nya’.
take-PV=3SG.GEN
‘Therefore, since there is no leafbud, how could it be possible that people set the trap there? There is no leafbud. Birds have taken the leafbud away.’
c. (Sinica Archive: 13-008-b)
bzinah ga’, s-hngaw=naha’ hma’.
the.other.side TOP CV-rest=3PL.GEN FP:QUOT
‘They would let the other side of her face.’
The future form usually expresses an event or situation that takes place after the speech act time. The future AV affix is p-; the future PV form remains -un; the future form to specify a location subject is –un; and in the future IV/BV form, the affix is a either CV-reduplication form or a zero form. Examples are given in (2.50):
(2.50)
a. (Sinica Archive: 02-005-b)
ana’ ga’, a
p-hbyaw
iy bqanux ru bzyok no.matter TOP FIL FUT.AV-chase FIL deer and pig ka… mutux h<m>inas ska’ gung pi.FIL then <AV>pass.through middle stream FP
‘However, when they wanted to chase deer and boars, they then passed through the stream.’
b. (Sinica Archive: 07-006-b)
“ini’=simu k-lokah ga’, niq-un=maku’ qu’
NEG=2PL.NOM STAT-hard TOP eat-PV=1SG.GEN NOM
ngahi’=mamu’ la’.”
sweet.potato=2PL.GEN FP
‘It you don’t work hard, I will eat your sweet potatoes up.’
c. (Sinica Archive: 01-019-c)
“ini’=su qngzyat lga’, a (i)yat=ta’=naha’
NEG=2SG.NOM diligent FP:TOP FIL NEG=1PI.NOM=3PL.GEN
biq-un pila’ la’ ay” ma’.
give-PV money FP FP QUOT
‘“If you aren’t diligent, they will not pay us money.” (He told his ass that.)’
d. (Sinica Archive: 01-010-e)
“talagay yal qu’
p-panga’=ta’
qani’.”EXCL very NOM RED(.CV)-carry.on.back=1PI.GEN this
‘Why do we have to carry so much later?’
e. kbalay=mu na’ qwow qu’ ciwas.
make(.CV)=1SG.GEN still wine NOM PN
‘I will make wine for Ciwas.’
As shown in (2.50), future events refer to those that have the potential to occur, but have not been actualized yet; there is then a functional link between the ‘future’ tense and potential mood or irrealis (Chung and Timberlake 1985; Givón 1994:270).
(-i)n- is a marker used to indicate realis events, so it can be affixed to a neutral AV, a neutral PV and a neutral LV form; but when expressing an event with an instrument/beneficiary participant as the argument, the language either uses the past tense marker attached to a base form (e.g., (2.51d)) or uses the neutral s-marking form (e.g., (2.51e)).
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(2.51)
a. (Sinica Archive: 15-003-c)