The Basic Verb Construction in Balinese

Analyzing the basic verb construction in Balinese from a voice-typological perspective, this
paper has two goals. First, by focusing on the syntactic properties of this construction, it
tries to show that it has a number of peculiar properties. It has passive-like properties in
which the Patient is the subject, but the verb form is unmarked and the Agent is generally
not an adjunct, which is unusual in passive constructions. Second, it describes a split of the
third pronominal Agent in order to find its underlying principles. In Low Balinese, the third
person pronominal Agent of the basic verb construction is represented as an enclitic –a on
the verb. It is a kind of pronominal suffix which can be followed by an Agent adjunct
represented by a prepositional phrase, showing that this construction is like a passive
construction. The basic construction will also be compared to other Balinese verbal
constructions in order to find out to what extent it is a passive one.