On the Number of Voices in Madurese

Abstract

Two voices have previously been documented in Madurese: an active voice, and a non-active voice with e- prefixed verbs. In this paper I examine the non-active voice, which has variously been called passive voice or object voice, and demonstrate that it is a canonical passive voice. Furthermore, I document the existence of a distinct third voice, an object voice similar to that of other languages of the area. The object voice is used in the polite register, but not in the familiar register, so the two-voice system in the familiar register differs from the three-voice system in the polite register. The registers are also differentiated by nominal extraction patterns: objects may extract in polite speech, but not in familiar speech. In view of these contrasts, I argue that the familiar and polite registers each operate with distinct sets of morphosyntactic rules, or distinct grammars.