How symmetrical are the Formosan languages?

摘要

The analysis of the voice system of the so-called Philippine-type languages has been a source of debate for over one hundred years. With the introduction of the new term ‘symmetrical voice’ by Foley (1998, 2008), many Western Austronesian languages have been described as symmetrical voice languages in recent studies (e.g., Himmelmann 2005: 113). Based on the definitions given by Riesberg (2014:10), the morphosyntactic features of arguments in different voices are examined and compared. It is found that not all Formosan languages exhibit the same symmetricity; there are considerable differences hidden under the superficial similarities.