Papers by Kevin Ray V . Abesamis
Academia Letters, 2022
This paper argues that focus, transitivity, and temporality cannot be analyzed separately from mo... more This paper argues that focus, transitivity, and temporality cannot be analyzed separately from modality. Take for example in Cebuano, (1) Gikasuk-an nako siya. ‘I scolded him’. (2) Nasuko ko (ka)niya. ‘I became angry at him.’ These two sentences have been traditionally analyzed as both in the perfective aspect but exhibiting different focuses. Sentence (1) has been interpreted as either passive or containing a referential focus. Meanwhile, sentence (2) has been held to be active. This tradition, however, glosses over many layers of meaning pertaining to modality. In our view, sentence (1) is a transitive construction in which the referent siya is fully affected by the action indicated by the verb. On the other hand, sentence (2) is an intransitive construction that expresses partial affectedness of the third person (ka) niya. Other features of modality that have not been discussed in earlier studies are the contrast between deliberate versus non- deliberate, effortless versus effortful, stative versus active, punctual versus durative, particular versus general action, internal versus external action, exclusivity versus non-exclusivity. Data was gathered from reference grammars of Cebuano, Ilokano, and Tagalog with field interviews with native speakers.
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Papers by Kevin Ray V . Abesamis