Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies

5 • The Ainu Passive Construction

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Abstract

Among the uses of the HA fourth person Tamura (2000, 71-2) discusses that of cross-referencing the starting point of the action in a passive construction. A sentence like (1) is regarded as a passive sentence by virtue of the fact that the actual performer of the event is expressed in a noun phrase with ‘orowa, an oblique. The performer of the action is referenced to by the fourth person prefix on the verb. This is different from the impersonal construction (2) where the indefinite agent is still marked via the fourth person on the verb but it is not overtly expressed.


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Published Sept. 4, 2024 | Language: en

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Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-861-3/005


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