Aspect and Voice Selection in Malagasy Initial Observations

In Malagasy, a head-initial Austronesian language of Madagascar, basic clauses consist of a predicate phrase combined with a DP constituent which I will refer to here as the trigger (also known as the subject). When the predicate phrase is headed by a verb, that verb inflects for voice to indicate the grammatical function of the trigger. The examples in (1) below illustrate the various voice forms for the verb ‘kill’ (root vono), with the trigger of each clause shown in italics. If the verb’s external argument or actor (roughly, the highest argument on some participant hierarchy) functions as the trigger of the clause, then the verb appears in the actor-trigger (AT) voice (1a). If the trigger is the internal argument of a transitive verb, the verb appears instead in the theme-trigger (TT) voice (1b). Finally, the circumstantial-trigger (CT) form is used when the trigger bears a peripheral grammatical function such as instrument, beneficiary, location, or goal (1c).