Corpus linguistic and experimental studies on the meaning-preserving hypothesis in Indonesian voice alternations

I Made Rajeg,Gede Primahadi Wijaya Rajeg,I Wayan Arka

doi:10.1515/lingvan-2020-0104

I Made Rajeg, Gede Primahadi Wijaya Rajeg + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2020-0104

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Abstract

Abstract One essential feature of voice alternation is that active and passive clauses centred around a given verb express the same meaning: the “meaning-preserving” hypothesis. One effect of the alternation is the different linking of grammatical relations and semantic roles, which affects the identity of the subject. This paper investigates the meaning-preserving hypothesis in voice alternation in Indonesian from a quantitative usage-based perspective by combining corpus-based data with sentence-production experiment data. It analysed Indonesian caused forward/backward motion verbs and the distribution of their (non-)metaphoric senses in active and passive. The findings demonstrate the frequency effects and sense-sensitivity of voice alternation, such that a given voice type of a verb is strongly associated with certain senses. This finding provides initial support for a previous study on voice alternation in an Austronesian language, predicting that the verb’s semantic properties may condition the statistical bias of the verb towards a particular voice. Some convergence between experimental and corpus findings indicates that participants demonstrate some representation of the strong association between a given voice form of the verb and the sense predominantly expressed in that form, highlighting the notion of item-specific representations of linguistic knowledge as found in construction grammar.

Highlights

One of the essential features of active (AV) and passive (PASS) voice alternation is that AV and PASS clauses centred around a given verb express the same meaning or sense: see (1) and (2).1 This is referred to as the “meaning-preserving” hypothesis (Kroeger 2005: 271)
The effects of voice alternation include the re-alignment of grammatical relations and semantic roles, which affects the identity of the subject, and the demotion of the AV agent in the PASS into an oblique or unexpressed argument (Kroeger 2004: 54)
No literal sense was found in the sample for AV memajukan, one token was identified in the sample for PASS dimajukan; for this reason, we excluded the literal sense in the corpus analysis

Summary

Introduction

One of the essential features of active (AV) and passive (PASS) voice alternation is that AV and PASS clauses centred around a given verb express the same meaning or sense: see (1) and (2). This is referred to as the “meaning-preserving” hypothesis (Kroeger 2005: 271). One of the essential features of active (AV) and passive (PASS) voice alternation is that AV and PASS clauses centred around a given verb express the same meaning or sense: see (1) and (2).. One of the essential features of active (AV) and passive (PASS) voice alternation is that AV and PASS clauses centred around a given verb express the same meaning or sense: see (1) and (2).1 This is referred to as the “meaning-preserving” hypothesis (Kroeger 2005: 271). AV-move.forward-CAUS schedule exam ‘The Education Department of Surabaya city moved the exam schedule forward ...’. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution (2) akhirnya laga eksebisi tersebut di-maju-kan. The exhibition match is moved forward (to an earlier time).’ The effects of voice alternation include the re-alignment of grammatical relations and semantic roles, which affects the identity of the subject, and the demotion of the AV agent in the PASS into an oblique or unexpressed argument (Kroeger 2004: 54). (1) Dindik

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