In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. by Svein Ege, Harald
Aspen, Birhanu Teferra and Shiferaw Bekele, Trondheim 2009
A Typology Of The Middle In Ethiopian Afro-Asiatic Languages1
Tolemariam Fufa Teso2
The aim of this paper is to show variations and similarities of middle marking systems in
Ethiopian Afro-Asiatic languages. On the basis of the semantics of the middle I shall show
similar middle marking system across languages to establish a prototypical middle verb.
The paper focuses on variations of the middle verbal derivation. In order to show variations
of form, I select some verbs with a given semantic value and compare their middle forms
across languages of the same family and different families. I shall show three types of
argument structure of the middle which are linked to meanings of middle verbs.
Variations and Similarities in Middle Derivation
Middle Proper
The aim of this section is to show similarities in Afro-Asiatic languages. The intention
of the discussion of such similarities is to establish a common ground on the basis of
which the following types of middle markings are shown. Particularly, this section
focuses on middle verbs which are derived from transitive verb roots. In fact, with
exception of Cushitic languages, middle verbs could not be derived from all kinds of
transitive verb roots. But there is a set of transitive verb roots which allow the
derivation of middles in all Afro-Asiatic languages. Semantically, these verbs are
labelled as body grooming verbs. Although, some deponent bases are observed, many
body grooming middles are derived from transitive verb roots. For this purpose, this
work considers body grooming middles to be a prototypical middle both form and
meaning wise. Different examples from different languages will be given to support this
common ground.
In Awiŋi, a central Cushitic language, verbs such as xus-t-iixo ‘she washed herself’
are body grooming verbs which are marked for the middle by the morpheme –t-.
Similar to Awiŋi, in Beja, a north Cushitic language, (Hudson, 1976: 119) the
morpheme –t- derives body grooming middles as in ʔ-ii-t-mín 'he used to shave
himself’.
In lowland east Cushitic languages grooming verbs are marked for the middle. In
Oromo grooming verbs such as haadd-at- ‘to shave oneself’ and ɗik’k’3-at- ‘to wash
oneself’ are marked for the middle by the morpheme -at-. In Afar, the morpheme –itmarks verbs such as kaʔl- ‘to wash’ for the middle as kaʔl-it- ‘to wash oneself’. In
Somali verbs such as mey-ɗ- ‘to wash oneself’ and lukluk-at- ‘to rinse oneself’ are
1
2
3
This paper is part of a PhD research project titled, “A Typology of Verbal Derivations in Ethiopian
Afro-Asiatic languages. The project is funded by WOTRO. This paper is granted by LUCL and LUF.
Tolemariam Fufa Teso is currently a PhD student at Leiden University, Netherlands. E-mail address:
[email protected]
The following sounds are used: k’=voiceless, velar, stop; t’=ejective, dental, stop; č= voiceless,
palatal, affricate; č’=ejective, palatal, affricate; s’=ejective, dental, fricative; ñ=voiced, palatal, nasal;
ə= high, central, unrounded; ä= mid, central, unrounded.
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Tolemariam Fufa Teso
marked for the middle by - ɗ- and –at- respectively. The same case is observed in
Ts’amako (Graziano, 2005: 179) as ʔooš-aɗ- ‘to shave oneself’ and šiin-aɗ- ‘to smear
oneself’.
Similar system of middle derivation is observed in highland east Cushitic languages.
In Hadiya grooming verbs are marked for the middle by the morpheme - eʔ/ -aʔ- as in
lad-eʔ- ‘to tie ones own belt’ and kas-aʔ- ‘to colour one’s own teeth’. In Kambata
grooming verbs are marked by the morpheme -ak'k'- as in aalʔ-ak'k'- ‘to wash
oneself’, meet't'-ak'k'- ‘to shave oneself’ and gunč’č'uuč’č'-ak'k'- ‘to rinse one’s
own teeth’. In fact, morphemes - eʔ/ -aʔ- and - ak'k'- are commonly used as a middle
morphemes in Hadiya and Kambata. In Sidama grooming verbs are marked for the
middle by the morpheme –ir- as in haašš-ir- ‘to wash oneself’ and kuwatis-ir- ‘to wear
one’s own shoes’. Thus, body grooming middles are common in north, central, lowland
east and high land east Cushitic languages. Similarly, body grooming verbs are marked
for the middle in Iraqw (Mous, 1993: 175), a south Cushitic language spoken in
Tanzania; for instance the middle hamtliit ‘to take a bath’ is derived from the verb
hamaatl ‘to wash’.
In Semitic languages of Ethiopia, transitive body grooming verbs are consistently
marked for the middle by the prefix tä-. For instance in Geez verbs such as tä-has’əb‘to wash oneself’ and tä-las’əy- ‘to shave oneself’ are middles. Similarly, in Tigirigna, a
north Ethio-Semitic language, verbs such as tä-ħas's'ib- ‘to wash oneself’, tä-las'iʔ- ‘to
shave oneself’ and tä-gumäs'mis'- ‘to rinse oneself’ are marked for the middle. The
same verbs are marked for the middle in Amharic; verbs such as tä-lač’č’- ‘to shave
oneself’ and tägumät’mmät’- ‘to rinse one’s own mouth’ are middles. In Silt’i (Gutt
and Husein, 1997) verbs such as tä-maaš- ‘to wipe oneself’ and tä-meeč’- ‘to wash
oneself’ are middle marked by the morpheme tä-. Similarly, in Kisatne (Alemayehu,
2000: 53) grooming verbs such as tä-mič’č'- ‘to wash oneself’ are middle marked.
The same case is observed in Omotic language. In Droze, grooming verbs such as
meč'-ett- ‘to wash oneself’ and kans'-ett- ‘to shave oneself’ are middle marked by the
morpheme –ett-. In Wolayta (Motomichi, 2002: 318) verbs such as kááč-ett- ‘to
scratch oneself’ are middles. In Maale (Azeb, 2001: 104-5) verbs such as tíšt-ínt- ‘to
smear oneself’ and mast-ínt ‘to wash oneself’ are middles. Dorze and Wolayta,
languages which employ the middle marking –ett-, are north Ometo whereas Maale, a
language which employs the middle marking –int-, is a south Ometo language.
In Shakkinoono, a west Omotic language, grooming verbs such as máss-à- ‘to wash
oneself’ and č'égg-̀a- ‘to shave oneself’ are middle marked. In Sheko also grooming
middles such as abriš-t’- ‘to wash oneself’ and afaz-t’- ‘to shave oneself’ are middle
marked by the morpheme –t’-.
Grooming middles, with the exception of few verbs, are uniformly marked for the
middle in Afro-Asiatic languages. In general body grooming middles are assumed to be
prototypical middles since we could find instances of these cases in Afro-Asiatic
languages. Thus, body grooming middles are unique; they are different from other body
motion middles. Body motion middles such as change in body posture, non-translational
body motion and translational body motions are marked for the middle in some
languages while they are not in others. We could also observe more variations than
similarities if we consider mental event and spontaneous middles.
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A Typology Of The Middle In Ethiopian Afro-Asiatic Languages
Lexical (Unmarked) Middles
Some verbs in some languages are marked for the middle while they are lexical in other
languages. This case is observed within each language family and across language
families. First let us observe some cases of variations within Cushitic family. In Oromo
and Afar, for instance, the verb ‘to stand’ is marked for the middle as in ɗaab-at-, and
sool-it- respectively. In Kambata it could be expressed either lexically as in uur- or
morphologically as in urr-ak’k’- ‘to stand’. The same verb is lexical middle in Somali,
Hadiya and Sidama as in kaʔ-, uull- and uurr- respectively. The verb ‘to be shivered ’
is marked for the middle in Oromo, Afar, Awiŋi, and Sidama as in holl-at-, bakkar-it-,
tərax-t- and hut’-ir- respectively; but lexical in Kamabata as in hut’t’-. The verb ‘to be
rolled’ is middle marked in Oromo, Afar and Kambata as in gangal-at-, rod-it- and
birk’k’-iik’k’- respectively. But this verb is not marked for the middle in Awiŋi and
Haddiya as in kəmbabəl- and onkoorooll- respectively. The verb ‘to be happy’ is
middle in Afar as farh-it- and Sidama as hadiɗ- but lexical in Oromo as gammad-, and
Awiŋi as dess-. The verb ‘to forget’ is middle in Oromo and Afar as in irranf-at-, and
hannew-it- ; but lexical in Awiŋi, Hadiya, Kambata and Sidama as in zeeneeg-, t’ad-,
babb- and haw- respectively.
We could also observe similar variations within Semitic languages of Ethiopia. For
instance, in Amharic the verb täñ- ‘to sleep’ is marked for the middle by the morpheme
–tä- while in Tigirigna the same verb is lexical as in harris- ‘to sit’. This verb is marked
in Harari as in tä-gebäla 'sit' (Leslau, 1958: 30). As far as the verb ‘to sit’ is concerned
both Amharic and Harari, a south Semitic languages, are similar. But if we take a
different verb, for instance, the verb ‘to hurry’, both languages differ. In Amharic this
verb is unmarked for the middle as in čäkkol- ‘to be in hurry’ whereas in Harari it is
marked by the morpheme tä- as in tä-baläl- 'to be in hurry' (Leslau, 1958: 30). We
could take the verb ‘to forget’ to give more illustration. In Amharic and Tigrigna this
verb is expressed lexically as in räss- ‘to forget’ and rässiiʔ-‘to forget’ respectively. But
in Gafat, a transversal south Ethio-Semitic language, it is middle marked as in tä-däbaž
- ‘to forget’ (Leslau, 1948: 77). Similarly, the verb tä-t'enäb- 'to listen attentively' is
marked for the middle in Harari (Leslau, 1948: 30) while it is lexical in Amharic and
Tigirigna as in sämm- ‘to listen’ and sämiʔ- ‘to listen’ respectively.
The same case is observed in Omotic languages. For instance, ičč- ‘to sleep’ is
lexical in Dorze, a north Ometo language, but middle in Koreete, east Ometo language,
as woy-ɗ-. In West Omotic languages such as Shakkinoono and Kafinoonoo this verb is
marked for the middle as in tókkàr-à- and tokkar-e- respectively. The verb ‘to be
shivered’ is unmarked for the middle in Dorze as in hokk-; but marked in Koreete,
Maale, Kafinoonoo, and Benchnoon as in kobur-d-, harp-ínt- (Azeb, 2001: 101),
k’ew-e-, and gur-t’- (Rapold, 2006:319) respectively. The verb ‘to run’ is middle
marked in Shakkinoono and Kafinoonoo as in wóč’č’-a- and woč’č’-e- respectively; but
lexical in Dorze as in wos’-. The verb ‘to be worry’ is middle in Kullo, Wolayta and
Dawuro as in ʔunʔ-ett-aso, ʔunʔ-ett-asu and ʔunʔ-ett-aaddo respectively; but lexical
in Dorze as in k’op’aw-os. Yet, Kullo, Wolayta, Dawuro and Dorze belong to north
Ometo. The same verb is marked for the middle in Koreete as in i-maɗun-d-oo and in
Kafinoono as in č’anakk-e-tan.
We could consider the above mentioned cases in terms of language families. For
instance, the verb ‘to stand’ is middle in Oromo and Shakkinoono as in ɗaabb-at-e and
komm-a-ye ‘he stood up’ respectively; but lexical in Amharic as k’om-ä ‘he stood up’.
Such variation is observed in body motion, mental event and spontaneous middles. But
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Tolemariam Fufa Teso
the variation observed in deadjectival middles are plenty as far as cross linguistic
comparison is concerned. In Cushitic languages, deadjectival middles are marked for
the middle although there are some variations between central, lowland east and
highland east Cushtic languages. For instance, in Oromo almost all deadjectival middles
are marked for the middle by the morpheme –at-; middles such as gudd-at- ‘become
big, grow’, t’inn-aat- ‘become little’, furd-at- ‘become fat’, k’alʔ-at- ‘become thin’,
balʔ-at- ‘become broad’, etc., are deadjectival middles. In Awiŋi verbs such as ints-t‘to become thin’ and sink-ut- ‘to become white’ are middle marked while verbs such as
leges- ‘to grow’, dang- ‘to become little’, issan- ‘to become wide’, etc., are lexical. In
Afar verbs such as henn-it- ‘to become narrow’ and akk-ot- ‘to become thin’ are
middles while verbs such as daldal- ‘to grow’ and neb-‘to become wide’ are lexical. In
Gawwaada (Gebberew, 2003: 56), one of lowland east Cushitic languages, deadjectival
verbs such as kartann-aɗ- ‘to become fat’, kumm-aɗ- ‘to become black’, piiʔ-aɗ- ‘to
become white’, haaff-aɗ- ‘to become thin’, maknaʔ-aɗ- ‘to become short’, siikap-uy‘to become tall’, heet'a-uy- ‘to become beautiful’, keeš-uy- ‘to become old’ are middle
verbs.
In high land east Cushitic languages many of these verbs are lexical middles. For
example, in Hadiya verbs such as t’aʔ- ‘to become little’, harar- ‘to become wide’,
t’um- ‘to become narrow’, k’adaall- ‘to become white’ and wič’- ‘to become thin’ are
lexical but verbs such as gejj-ak’k’- ‘to grow’ and kaš-ak’k’- ‘to became red’ are
middles. In Kambata many of deadjectival middles are lexical as in, for instance,
haraar- ‘to become wide’, t’uk’- ‘to become narrow’, wojj- ‘to become white’, kač’č’‘to become thin’ and gambal- ‘to become black’. In Sidama verbs such as lop’p’- ‘to
grow’, t’eʔ- ‘to become little’, hallalʔ- ‘to become wide’, ruukk- ‘to become narrow’,
leʔ- ‘to become red’ are lexical while verbs such as waajj-ir- ‘to become white’ and
koleš-ir- ‘to become black’ are middles.
In Semitic languages deadjectival verbs are unmarked for the middle. For instance, in
Amharic verbs such as t’äk’k’or- ‘to become black’, wäffár- ‘to become fat’,
k’ät’t’än- ‘to become thin’, räzzäm- ‘to become tall’, etc., are lexical middles.
Similarly in Tigirigna, verbs such as s’äbib- ‘to become narrow’ and säfəh- ‘to become
wide’ are lexical. In Omotic languages many deadjectival middles are lexical. For
instance, in Dorze verbs such as akk- ‘to become wide’, zoʔ- ‘to become red’ geyy- ‘to
become white’, etc are lexical middles. Similarly, in Konta verbs such as dalg- ‘to
become wide’, ʔunʔ- ‘to become narrow’, teer- ‘to become red’, etc are not marked for
the middle. In Wolayta verbs such as leeʔ- ‘to become thin’, haakk- ‘to become far’;
and in Dawuro verbs such as boos’- ‘to become white’ and akk- ‘to become wide’ are
lexical. In Koreete (Beletu, 2003: 75) verbs such as hat- ‘to become short’, mall- ‘to
become fat’, tim- ‘to become wet’, kaym- ‘to become young’, and ʔuk’- ‘to become
near’ are lexical middles. In Malo (Mahder, 2003: 98-99) deadjectival bases such as
haat- ‘to become short’, s’ik’- ‘to become small’, šiik’- ‘to become narrow’, miš- ‘to
become hot’, čam- ‘to become old’, dammo ‘to become big’, leeʔʔ- ‘to become thin’,
čam- ‘to become better’, min- ‘to become strong’, des’- ‘to become heavy’ and word‘to become liar’ are all lexical middles.
But in Maale (Azeb, 2001:108-9) there are both lexical and deadjectival middle
verbs. For instance, verbs such as dod-é-ne ‘to becoming strong’, purt-é-ne ‘to became
bad’, pizz-é-ne ‘to became straight’, mel-é-ne ‘to became dry’, garč-é-ne ‘to became
old’, and č’olʔ ‘to become green’ are lexical while verbs such as kaat-at- ‘to become
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A Typology Of The Middle In Ethiopian Afro-Asiatic Languages
king’, č’inč’-at- ‘to become witty’, ɗégg-at- ‘to become young’, kup-at- ‘to become
poor’, gárč-at- ‘to become old’ are morphologically middle marked.
Passive Middles
Some verbs are middle marked in one language while passive marked in others to give
the same meaning. Such case is clearly observed in Cushitic languages where the
middle and the passive morphemes are distinct. In Semitic languages such case could
not be easily attested since the middle marking is the same as the passive marking.
Similarly in most Omotic languages the middle marking is the same as the passive
marking. Therefore many instances of middle passives are taken from Cushitic
languages. The verb ‘to shave oneself’, for instance, is middle marked in Oromo as
haadd-at-. In Afar the same verb is lexical as mool- ‘to shave’; while in Awiŋi, Sidama
and Shakkinoono the verb ‘to shave oneself’ is passive in form but middle in meaning
as in lins’-ist , meed-am- and č'égg-̀i<y>à- respectively. Similarly in Shakkinoono the
verb ‘to rinse oneself’ is passive in form but middle in meaning as gúč-̀i<y>à-; this verb
is middle in Oromo, Kambata, Amharic and Tigirigna as in lulluuk’k’-at-,
gunč'č'uuč'č'-ak'k'-, tä-gumät’ämmät’- and tä-gumäs'mis'- respectively.
The verb ‘to be shivered’ is middle in many languages; holl-at- in Oromo, tänk’ät’äk’k’ät’- in Amharic, harp-ínt- in Maale, gur-t’- in Benchnoon, kobur-d- in
Koreete; but passive in Hadiya as in gaʔn-am--. The verb ‘to flicker one’s own eye’
is middle in Oromo as lip’s-at-; but this verb is passive in Hadiya as hut’e-am-;
whereas in Kambata lexical as hut't'-. The verb ‘to be shrunk’ is middle in Oromo and
Amharic as kottonf-at- and tä-koramät- respectively; but passive in Sidama as ereeam-. Similarly, the verb ‘to be paralyzed’ is middle in Amharic as tä-šmädämmäd- ;
but passive in Sidama as t’aat’-am-.
In Awiŋi, a central Cushitic language, emotion verbs such as čənək-ist-’to be worry’
and leended-ist- are marked for the passive. Similarly in high land east Cushtic
languages emotion verbs are passives. For instance, liir-am- ‘to be happy’ in Hadiya,
unʔ-an(m)- ‘to be worry’ in Kambata and gir-am- ‘to be angry’ in Sidama are marked
by the passive morphemes. But in Afar, one of lowland east Cushtic language, verbs
such as meeš-it- ‘to be worry’, farh-it- ‘to be happy’ and bakahar-it- ‘to be angry’ are
marked for the middle. In Oromo verbs such as gammad- ‘to be happy’, aar- ‘be
angry’ are lexical while the verb rakk-at- ‘to be worry’ is middle. Similarly in
Shakkinoono k̀ič'-̀i<ỳ>à- ‘to be worry’ is passive while háátt-à- ‘to be angry’ is
middle. The verb yaad-at- ‘to remember’ is also middle verb in Oromo; but passive in
Awiŋi as tak-ist-. This verb is lexical in Kambata and Sidamo as k’aagg- in both
languages. The verb ɗal-at- ‘to be borne’ is middle in Oromo; the same is true in
Shakkinoono as šííjj-̀a. But this verb is passive in Awiŋi, Hadiya, Kambata and Sidama
as kamen-ist-, kar-am-, il-amm- and il-am- respectively. There are many instances of
such case in Cushitic languages.
Causative Middles
Some verbs are marked for the middle in some languages while for causative in others;
yet they have middle meaning. For instance, the verb muf-at- ‘to get angry and refuse
to talk’ is middle in Oromo. But the same verb with the same meaning is causative in
Amharic as akorräf- ‘to get angry and refuse to talk’. The verb akorräf- is causative in
form because manner nominal form that does not have the causative morpheme is
derived from this verb as kurfəya ‘being offended’.
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Tolemariam Fufa Teso
The verb t’inn-aat- ‘to become little’ is middle in Oromo. Similarly in Shakkinoono
and Kafinoonoo this verb is marked for the middle as in giš-a- and giš-e- respectively.
The same verb is lexical in Awiŋi, Hadiya and Sidama as dang-, t'aʔ- and t'eʔrespectively. But the same verb with the same meaning is causative in Amharic as
annäs- ‘to become little’. In Amharic, the form of the adjective from which the middle
verb annäs- ‘to become little’ derived is tənnəš ‘small’; the causative morpheme a- is
not prefixed to this form. The verb a-ns’äbarräk’- ‘to illuminate’ is causative with
middle meaning in Amharic because the nominal näsäbrak’ ‘illumination’ shows that
the causative morpheme a- is prefixed to the stem –ns’äbarräk-. This verb is causative
in Tigirigna as a-bəräk'rək'. The verb č’alak’k’-is- ‘to illuminate’ is also causative in
form in Oromo. Similarly in Awiŋi the verb ans'eberik-ts- is marked for the causative
but it has a middle meaning. Yet, this verb is lexical in Konta, Wolayta and Dawuro as
foč’-, p’ool- and folk’- respectively.
Verbs which show change of time are marked for the middle in Oromo. For example,
barf-at- ‘to be late’ is a middle verb. This verb is lexical in Awiŋi as arefid-. The same
verb is causative in form in Amharic with middle meaning as a-räffäd-. In Amharic the
middle a-räffäd- ‘to be late’ is derived from the verb räffäd- ‘to become late’. The verb
a-räffäd- ‘to be late’ selects for a human subject; whereas the verb räffäd- selects for
inanimate subject, time. The verb ‘to snore’ is causative in form but middle in meaning
in Amharic and Oromo as a-nkkoraff-, and korr-is- respectively. In Oromo, verbs such
as bokk-is- ‘to blech’, barr-is- ‘to fly’ and lakk-is- ‘to leave out’ are marked for
causative; yet they have middle meanings. In Amharic, agäss- ‘to blech’ is marked for
causative; but verbs such as bärrär-‘to fly’ and täw- ‘to leave out’ are lexical middles.
Verbs such as anäbb- ‘to cry’ and anät’t’äs- ‘to sneeze’ are causative in form in
Amharic. The verb anäbb- ‘to cry’ could be optionally expressed as näbb- without
change of meaning. It is also the case that the impersonal form of anäbb- is tänäbb- ‘to
be cried’. From such comparison we could understand that the morpheme a- is suffixed
to the stem näbb- ‘to cry’ to justify that the form anäbb- is causative in form. The form
anät’t’äs- ‘to sneez’ could also be compared with the impersonal passive form
tänät’t’äs- ‘to be sneezed’ in which case the morpheme a- contrasts with tä-. The verb
boh-‘to cry’ is lexical in Oromo while the verb hat’t’-iss-at- ‘to sneeze’ is a middle
verb derived from a deponent causative verb *hat’t’iss-‘to make sneeze’; yet the
nominal hat’t’issoo sneeze is acceptable.
Syntactic Middles
Syntactic middles are of four types, ideophonic, inchoative, autobenefactive and
reflexive middles. Each of these types will be briefly discussed in the following
paragraphs. In some languages some verbs are morphologically marked for the middle
while in other languages the same verbs are expressed by means of ideophones. Typical
examples of ideophonic middles are found in Tigirigna, a north Semitic language, and
Khamta, one of Agew dialects spoken in Tigray. In Tigirigna, the verb käff il-uu ‘he sat
down/ lit. he said sit’ is ideophonic middle. The verb root käf- ‘sit’ is combined with il‘to say’ to give the middle meaning. In Amharic, a south Semitic language of Ethiopia,
the verb tä-k’k’ämmät’-ä ‘he sat down’ is middle. In fact, in Amharic this verb could
alternatively be expressed ideophonically as k’uč’č’ al-ä ‘he sat down/ lit. he said sit’.
As compared to Amharic, Tigirigna does not have any option except the ideophonic
middle. In Harari (Leslau, 1958: 30) also the verb tä-gebäla 'sit' is middle. In Oromo
the verb taaʔ- ‘to sit’ is only expressed lexically. The same is true with many Cushitic
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and Omotic languages. In Tigirigna, verbs such as däw il-uu ‘he stood up/ lit. he said
stand’ and t’ät’äw il-uu ‘he stopped (used for moving body)/ lit. he said stop’ are
ideophonic middles. In Amharic the lexical middle k’om- ‘to stand’ could be expressed
ideophonically as k’omm al-ä ‘he stood up’. In Khamta (Mengistu, 1984: 45), similar
to Tigirgna, verbs such as čibr y-u ‘he stood up/ lit. he said stood’ and fir y-u ‘he went/
lit. he said go’ are only expressed ideophonically; verb roots such as čibr ‘to stand’ and
fir ‘go’ are combined with the y- ‘to say’ to form syntactic middles. In Awiŋi also
verbs such as fiŋ n-əxo ‘he is out/ lit. he said out’ and inju (n)-əxo ‘he sat down/ lit. he
said sit’ are ideophonic middles; fiŋ ‘to be out’ and inju ‘to sit’ are verb roots while nis the verb ‘to say’.
In Oromo the verb ɗaabb-at- ‘to stand/stop’ is middle. In Afar the verb sol eyy-e ‘he
stood up/ lit. he said stand’ is ideophonic middle. This middle could alternatively be
expressed by morphological middle as sol-it-e ‘he stood up’. In Sidama gaf y-ii ‘he
rested/ lit. he said rest’ is ideophonic middle. In Hadiya ideophonic middles are strange
and in Kambata they are rare. In Shakkinoono there are very few ideophonic middles as
č'áp'p' hétt-ì ‘he jumped/ lit. he said jump’ and č ikk hétt-ì ‘he kept quite/ lit. he said
quite’. In Kafinoonoo the verb č'ap’p’-i-te ‘he jumped’ and č ikk-i-te ‘he kept quite’
are middle verbs. In Dorze, one of north Omoto languages, lexical middles are
expressed optionally as ideophonic middles. For instance, ičč-ires ‘he slept’, utt-ires
‘he sat down’ and ek'k'-ires ‘he stood up’ are lexical middles which could alternatively
be expressed as iččaa g-ires ‘he slept/ lit. he said sleep’, uttaa g-ires ‘he sat down/ lit.
he said sit down’ and ek'k'a g-ires ‘he slept/ lit. he said sleep’.
There are also some verbs which are marked for the middle in one language but
syntactically expressed in another by combing the inchoative form of the verb to be with
the verb root. For instance, in Shakkinoono émír̀i t-á̀aǹe ‘I am happy’ and g̀àajjá t-̀iǹe
‘she became red’ are inchoative middles; verb roots such as émír̀i ‘to be happy’ and
g̀àajjá ‘to be red’ are combined with inchoative form of the verb to be t-. In
Kafinoonoo, emir-i-te ‘I am happy’ gaajj-i- tane ‘she became red’ are middle verbs. In
Shakkinoono, the verb néč'č'-̀a-ỳe ‘it became white’ is middle; and this verb could
alternatively be expressed analytically as neč'č'a t-ine ‘it became white’. Kafinoonoo
has only one option for this verb, neč'č'-a-te ‘it became white’ which is middle. In fact
in languages like Oromo and Amharic deadjectivel middle verbs could be expressed in
two ways. In Oromo, for instance, deadjectivel middles are marked for the middle as it
has been already mentioned. It is also the case that such deadjectival middles could be
expressed analytically. For instance, verbs such as diim-at-e ‘it became red’, add-aat-e
‘it became white’, t’inn-aat-e ‘it became little’, gabaabb-at-e ‘it became short’ could
alternatively be expressed as diimaa tah-e, addii tah-e, t’innaa tah-e and gabaabaa
tah-e respectively; in the latter cases the corresponding adjectives such as diimaa ‘red’,
addii ‘white’, t’innaa ‘small’ and gabaabaa ‘short’ are combined with inchoative
form of the verb to be tah-. In Amharic, deadjectival middles are lexical; and these
middles could be expressed analytically. For instance, verbs such as räzzämä ‘it
became tall/ long’, at’t’ärä ‘it became short’, t’äk’k’orä ‘it became black’ and k’älla
‘it became red’ could alternatively be expressed as räžəm hon-ä, ač’č’ər hon-ä,
t’ək’ur hon-ä and k’äyy hon-ä respectively; adjectives such as räžəm ‘tall/long’, aččər
‘short’, t’ək’ur ‘black’ and k’äyy ‘red’ are combined with hon- ‘to be’ to give analytic
middles.
It is also the case that autobenefactive middles which are morphologically middle
marked in Cushitic languages are syntactically expressed in Semitic and Omotic
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Tolemariam Fufa Teso
languages. For instance, in Oromo, verbs such as bit-at- ‘to buy for one’s own benefit’,
gurgur-at- ‘to sell for one’s own benefit’, dabs-at- ‘to bend something for one’s own
benefit’, č’abs-at- ‘to break for one’s own benefit’, etc are morphologically marked for
the middle. But, in Amharic, these verbs are syntactically expressed as lä-ras-u gäzz-a
‘he bought for his own benefit/ lit. for oneself bought’, lä-ras-u šät’-ä ‘he sold for his
own benefit/ lit. for himself sold’, lä-ras-u at’t’ammäm-ä ‘he bended something for his
own benefit/ lit. for himself bended’, lä-ras-u säbbär-ä ‘he broke for his own benefit/
for himself broke’, etc. Similarly, in Kulo (Daniel, 1987: 22), yimet kan wons ‘work
for oneself/ lit. himself for work’ is syntactical middle. In Oromo such analytic middle
is expressed morphologically as hojjetate ‘he worked for his own benefit’.
Finally, reflexive middles are morphologically marked in some languages while they
are expressed syntactically in others. In Eža (Fekede, 2002: 78), one of west Gurage
languages, reflexive middles are morphologically marked. For instance, tä-dännäg-ä-m
‘he hit himself’ and tä-säddäb-ä-ni-m ‘he cursed himself for me’ are reflexive middles.
Similarly the verb tant’äm ‘to cut oneself’ (Leslau, 1979: 17), which is derived from
transitive antäm ‘to cut’, is reflexive middle. Similar to any other Semitic languages of
Ethiopia the middle is marked by the morpheme tä- in this language. Reflexive middles
such as shown in Eža are expressed by analytic reflexive structures in Oromo as of
rukkute ‘he hit himself/ lit. oneself hit’, of abaare ‘curse himself/ lit. oneself curse’
and of kute ‘he cut himself’. In Amharic also expressions such as rasun mätta ‘he hit
himself/ lit. himself hit’, rasun räggämä ‘he cursed himself/ lit. himself cursed’ and
rasun k’orrät’ä ‘he cut himself’ are syntactic.
Argument Structure of the Middle
Argument decreasing middles
Argument decreasing middles are common in Afro-Asiatic languages. Most of these
types of middles are derived from causative verb counterparts because the middle
morpheme contrasts with the causative morpheme in such examples. It is also the case
that some middles are derived from lexical transitive counterparts.
In Awiŋi, a central Cushitic language, the middle contrasts with the causative as in
(19):
1a.
ŋi
He
'He made Geri thin.'
ɣer-e
Geri-ACC4
1b.
ɣeri
Geri
'Geri became thin.'
ins'-t-əxo
thin-MID-3MSS
ins'-uts-əxo
thin -CAUS-3MSS
In (1a) the verb ins'-uts-əxo ‘made thin’ is marked for causative. This verb has two
arguments, the subject ŋi ‘he’ and the object ɣer-e. The verb ins'-t-əxo ‘became thin’ in
(1b), has only one argument, the subject ɣer-i; meanwhile, the causative morpheme is
replaced by the middle morpheme. In (1a) the pronominal ŋi ‘he’ is an agentive subject
4
The following abbreviations are used in this paper: ACC, accusative; CAUS, causative; DEF, definite;
MID, middle; NOM, nominative; 1SO, First person singualr subjejct; 3FSS, third person feminine
singular subject; 3MSO, third person singular object; 3MS, third person singular subject; POSS,
possessive; POP, postposition.
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A Typology Of The Middle In Ethiopian Afro-Asiatic Languages
of the causative structure while in (1b) the nominal ɣer-i is non-agentive subject of the
middle structure.
The following structures from Shakkinoono also show argument reducing middle:
2a.
2b.
áró
he
‘He made him angry.’
áró
he
‘He is angry.’
áró-n
he-ACC
ípp-ì-yè
angry-CAUS-3MSS
ípp-à-yè
angry-MID-3MSS
The verb ípp-ì-yè ‘made angry’ in (2a) is causative; it selects two arguments, the
agentive subject and the object. But, the verb ípp-à-yè ‘be angry’ is middle; it has only
one argument, an expriencer subject.
Argument reducing middles are also common in Semitic languages of Ethiopia. The
following instances are taken from Tigrigna:
3a.
nəssuu nätii
he
seeyr-ə-woo
break-3MSS-3MSO
'He broke the wood.'
ʔənc'äytii
wood
'The wood is broken.’
3b.
ənč'eytii
DEF.ACC
wood
tä-seyr-uu
MID- break-3MSS
In (3a) the verb seeyr-ə-woo ‘broke’ is a transitive verb; it has two arguments, the
agentive subject and object; whereas the verb tä-seyr-uu ‘be broken’ in (3b) is a
middle. It has one argument which is non-agentive. In this instance the middle
morpheme does not contrast with any causative morpheme.
Neutral Middle
Neutral middles are those middles which neither decrease nor increase argument
structure of middle events.
Neutral middles are of three types: body care,
autobenefactive and reflexive middles. Body care middles are derived from transitive
verbs. In body grooming middles the suffixation of the middle morpheme to a base of a
transitive verb does not decrease or increase the number of arguments. These types of
middles are common in Afro-Asiatic languages as it has already been discussed. We
could reconsider some instances of body grooming middles from Tigrinya, as in (4):
4a.
iti
k'olaʔaa
DEF.
boy
'The boy washed his hand.'
id-uu
hand-POSS
tä-ħas's'ib-uu
MID-wash-3MSS
4b.
iti
k'olaʔaa
DEF.
boy
'The boy washed a car.'
mäkinaa
car
ħas's'ib-uu
wash-3MSS
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Tolemariam Fufa Teso
In (4a) the verb tä-ħas's'ib- ‘to wash oneself’ is a middle verb; whereas in (4b) the verb
ħas's'ib- ‘to wash’ is not marked for middle; hence a transitive verb. Yet both verbs are
associated to two arguments; agent and patient. But in (4a) the agent is the same as the
patient, hence the affected agents; whereas in (4b) the agent is not the same as the
patient. The number of arguments shown in middle marked and unmarked verb is equal.
From such comparison of middle marked and unmarked verbs we can understand that
middle marking tä- does not increase or decrease argument in instances such as shown
in (4a).
Body grooming middles are similar to autobenefactive middles in two ways. The first
similarity is that both body grooming and autobenefactive middles are derived from
transitive verbs. The second similarity is that both types of middles exhibit the same
number of arguments as their underived transitive verb counterparts. There are also two
major differences between the two. The first one is that in body grooming middles the
agents are directly affected while in autobenefactive middles the agents are indirectely
affected. The second major difference is that autobenefactive middles do not enjoy
wider distribution as do body grooming middles. There are no instances of
autobenefactive middles so far from Semitic, Omotic and central Cushitic languages.
But autobenfactive middles are common in low land east and high land east Cushitic
languages. The following instances are taken from Hadiya and Sidama:
Haddiya:
5.
it't'i
woʔo
he
water
'He made water cool for his own benefit.'
Sidama:
6.
siggis-ak'k'-ukko
cool-MID-3MSS
ise geriččo
hir-iɗ-uu
she sheep
buy-MID-3FSS
'She bought a sheep for her own benefit.'
Verbs such as siggis- ‘to cool’ and hir- ‘to buy’ shown in (5-6) are transitive verbs
which select two arguments each. In these verbs the suffixation of the middle markings
does not add another external argument. Pronominals such as it't'i ‘he’ and ise ‘she’ are
agents while nominals such as woʔo and gericco are patients. The agents are different
from the corresponding patients.
Similar to body grooming and autobenefactive middles, reflexive middles do not
change argument structure. A typical example of reflexive middle is observed in Eža
(Fekede, 2002: 78). Reflexive middles such as, tädännäg- ‘be hit’ and täsäddäb- ‘be
cursed’ select two arguments; the affected agent and the patient.
7.
8.
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wägu
dadd-ota
tä-dännäg-ä-m
W
chest-POSS
MID-hit-3MSS-PAST
'Wegu hit his chest.'
wägu
tä-säddäb-ä-ni-m
W
MID-curse-3MSS-1SO-PAST
'Wegu cursed himself for me.'
A Typology Of The Middle In Ethiopian Afro-Asiatic Languages
In (7) and (8) verbs such as tä-dännäg- ‘be hit’ and tä-säddäb- ‘be cursed’ are derived
from transitive verbs dännäg- ‘to hit’ and säddäb- ‘to curse’. Yet, the suffixation of the
middle marking to such transitive verbs does not decrease arguments. Both middles
have two arguments although the patient in (8) is not stated. In both cases the agents are
the same as patients. Thus, in these examples there is no argument decreasing or
increasing phenomenon.
Argument Increasing Middle
Argument increasing middles are rare. Such middles are not productive and their
distribution is restricted to motion and emotion verbs. I found some instance of
argument increasing middles in Oromo and Amharic. The following instances are taken
from Oromo:
9a.
ɗak’-e
go-3MSS
inni
gabaa
he
market
‘He went to market.’
9b.
inni
muč’aa
he
child
‘He took a child to market.’
10a. gurbaa-n
iyy-e
boy-NOM
howl-3MS
‘A boy howled.’
gabaa
market
10b. gurbaa-n
miiɗaa-saa
boy-NOM
complaint-POSS
iyy-at-e
howl-MID-3MS
‘A boy appealed his complaint to government.’
ɗak’-at-e
go-MID-3MSS
motummaa-tti
government-POP
In (9a) the verb ɗak’-e ‘went’ is a translational motion intransitive verb. This verb
selects one external argument which happens to be an affected agent. But the verb ɗak’at-e ‘to make go’ in (9b) is a causative verb which selects two arguments, an agent and
a patient. Thus, the subject inni ‘he’ is not an affected agent since the agent inni ‘he’ is
not the same as muč’č’aa ‘child’. The suffixation of the middle marking –at- resulted
in argument addition in (9b). The same case is observed in (10). In (10a) the verb iyy-e
‘howled’ is an intransitive emotion verb. The verb selects for one external argument
which is the subject; and this subject is an expriencer. But in (10b), the middle marking
–at- is suffixed to the verb stem iyy- as iyy-at-e ‘appealed’ which is transitive. This
means the suffixation of the middle marking –at- happens to be argument increasing
morpheme although the verb iyy-at-e ‘appealed’ is used in its connotative meaning in
(10b).
The following two instances of argument increasing middles are taken from
Amharic:
11a. ləj-u
boy-DEF
‘The boy is angry.’
tä-k’ot’t’-a
MID-be angry-3MSS
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Tolemariam Fufa Teso
11b. ləj-u
ləj-u-n
boy-DEF
boy-DEF-ACC
tä-k’ot’t’-a-u
MID-be angry-3MSS-3MSO
‘The boy condemned the boy/ lit. The boy is angry at the boy.’
12a. ləj-u
tä-naggär-ä
boy-DEF
MID-talk-3MSS
‘The boy talked.’
12b. ləj-u
lij-u-n
boy-DEF
boy-DEF-ACC
tä-naggär-ä-u
MID-talk-3MSS-3MSO
‘The boy criticized the boy.’
In (11a) the verb tä-k’ot’t’-a ‘he is angry’ is an intransitive verb. It has one argument,
the experiencer subject. But the same verb in (11b) is a transitive verb since the verb täk’ot’t’-a-u ‘to condemn’ has two arguments, the agent and the patient. The difference
between the verb tä-k’ot’t’-a ‘he is angry’ and the verb tä-k’ot’t’-a-u ‘to condemn’ is
that the latter has object agreement element while the former lack such element. Besides
the verb tä-k’ot’t’-a-u ‘condemned’ is used in its connotative meaning. The same case
is observed in (12). In (12a) the verb tä-naggär-ä ‘talked’ is an intransitive emotion
verb which selects for an expriencer subject; whereas in (12b) the verb tä-naggär-ä-u
‘criticized’ selects for two arguments, agent and patient.
In summary, there are similarities and variations of middle marking system within
language family and across language families. Variations in derivations are common
across languages. Some verbs are marked for middle in some language while they are
lexical in others. It is also the case that some verbs in some languages are marked for
middle while they are marked for passive or causative in others. There also some
instances where morphological middles of some languages are expressed syntactically
in others. With respect to argument structure, we could observe three middle types:
argument decreasing, neutral middles and argument increasing middles. An external
argument of the middle verb could be an affected agent, an expriencer subject or nonagentive subject depending on the semantics of the verb.
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