Voice and Alignment in Ampenan Sasak Ditransitive Constructions

Abstract

This study presents the first systematic typological assessment and syntactic evaluation of the behavior of monotransitive and ditransitive arguments in a variety of Sasak, an Austronesian language spoken on the island of Lombok in Indonesia. It finds that three prototypical arguments—the monotransitive Patient (P) and the ditransitive Recipient (R) and Theme (T)—are syntactically equivalent and pattern together across voice constructions in word/argument order, passivization, and relativization. These findings are contrary to common typological expectations as well as formal theoretical assumptions that hold R and T to be asymmetrical syntactic objects.