Disentangling Grammatical Relations in Symmetrical-Voice Languages
Peter Schuelke, University of North Texas
Symmetrical voice is a phenomenon in which a language displays more than one default transitive pattern. Each symmetrical voice selects a single argument per clause, called the pivot, which is privileged for extraction. Pivot and non-pivot marking are expressed through the same strategies as grammatical relations alignment: nominal marking, verbal cross-reference, and word order. Due to this overlap, symmetrical voice is often conflated with or reduced to a grammatical relations alignment system. However, a careful inspection of the cross-linguistic properties of grammatical subjecthood adds to a growing literature suggesting that symmetrical voice is separate from grammatical relations and can itself be classified for its system of grammatical relations alignment.