Against the agreement approach to Philippine-type voice

Abstract This paper argues against an agreement approach to voice markers in Philippine-type languages in favor of a direct analysis in which these markers have syntactic functions. In particular, I show how these markers relate to argument and event structure. The “patient voice” clause type is a basic transitive clause with a definite and affected theme/patient argument. Consequently, the events expressed by this clause type are typically bounded. In contrast, the “actor voice” generally has an indefinite, less affected theme, thus expressing unbounded events. The “locative voice” is a locative applicative construction. This clause type can also be used to express an unbounded event if the applied object is a theme, which receives a partitive interpretation. Finally, the second applicative construction (“circumstantial voice”) selects a moved theme, instrument, beneficiary, or similar pseudo-argument which serves to initiate the event.