The
points of departure in Sema are : |
| (i) |
The verb remains indifferent to the active and passive
sentences. |
| (ii) |
if the subject of the active sentence is expressed in
its correspondinging passive one, the subject of the
active sentence which took the nominative case marker
no would continue to retain it even in its corresponding
passive form. |
| (iii)
|
In
its corresponding passive form, the object of the active
sentence, after a change in the word order would take
either the focus marker ye or the definite particle
hu as in : |
|
| axamnuhu |
 |
ino
xowe `the flower was plucked by me’ |
| axamnuye |
|
|
If
the usage in the two languages are compared, it would be found that though
a change in word order and also the optional deletion of the subject of
the active sentence in its corresponding passive sentence are common to
both the languages, the departure in the usage is very significant in
that in English and in many other languages it is a change in the shape
of the verb that basically distinguishes an active sentence from a passive
one whereas in Sema the change is observed only in the shape of the object
with the verb and the subject retaining the same shape in both types of
sentences. Thus the chief characteristic features of a passive sentence
in Sema are a change in the word order of the subject/object of an active
sentence and the object of the active sentence taking either the focus
marker ye or the definite particle hu in the corresponding passive sentence
with the logical subject continuing to take the nominative case marker
no in the passive sentence also. It might be pertinent to mention here
that the subject of an active sentence could take both these markers in
certain specified situations, as in : |
| 5 |
(a) ipuye ye ewe |
`my son has come’ (implying that the other children
have not
come). |
| |
(b) ipuhu yeewe |
`my (particular) son has come’ |
|
The focus marker could also occur with the subject of an active sentence
in reply to a question, as in : |
| 6 |
(b) niye asi cukè |
`I
ate the meat’ (implying that `it is I and not any
one else who
ate it’) |
|
This
type of using the focus marker with the subject of a sentence in active
voice does not cause any confusion to a listener because : |
| (i) |
in
the first set i.e., in v(a) and (b) it occurs with a
verb in intrasitive construction and |
| (ii) |
in
the second instance i.e., in (vi) where the verb is
in the transitive construction the grammatical object
does not have the case marker no hence it is in active
voice . Had the sentence been in the passive, the grammatical
object which incidentally would be the logical subject
of a passive sentence would have taken the nominative
case marker no and the sentence would have the meaning
`I was eaten by meat’. |
|
The definite particle could also occur with the direct object of a sentence
in active as in : |
| ino
aylyú hu zuthulu anì |
`I
am seeing the lady (particular) |
|
|
This
type of use also would not cause any confusion as the subject is clearly
indicated by the nominative case marker. |
There
is yet another area where the active passive sentences could be distinguished
i.e., when the logical object is either a I or II person pronoun. A few
examples would illustrate this statement. |
| 7
|
(a)
ino ohequiwà |
`I
beat you’ |
| |
(b) noye ino heqhiwà |
`you
were beaten by me’ |
| 8
|
(a)
ac no
imikiwà |
`the
dog bit me’ |
| |
(b) niye acno
mikiwà |
`I
was bitten by the dog’ |
| 9 |
(a) pano ozuthulu |
`he
saw you’ |
| |
(b) noye pano ozuthulu |
`you
were seen by him’ |
| 10 |
(a)
ino ozuthulu |
`I
saw you’ |
| |
(b) niye nono izuthulu |
`I was seen by you’ etc. |
|
|
The
examples cited above have active voice sentences in (a) series and passive
ones in (b) series. And in all the sentences in (a) series the first or
the second person pronouns functioning as the direct object are in thier
oblique form and prefixed to the verb without any pause. These pronouns,
however, when functioning as the grammatical subject of the sentences
in the passive (b series) are in the full form with the focus marker.
Since the |
