Too many nasal verbs: dialect variation in the voice system of Sasak

Like other western Indonesian languages, all varieties of Sasak have verbs that carry a nasal
prefix (also called ‘nasal verbs’, Arka 1998, 2003, 2009) and verbs that lack such a prefix
(also called ‘oral verbs’ or ‘zero verbs’). Sasak shows four morphologically distinct kinds
of nasal prefixes with varying functions. In some varieties the nasal-zero contrast has
syntactic relevance relating to cross-clausal ‘pivot’ choice. In others, the contrast is related
to different semantic-pragmatic interpretations of the Agentlike NP and non-Agentlike NP
in a two-argument clause, or to the way a state of affairs is being portrayed. Additionally,
northern Sasak has nasal prefixes in constructions that in other varieties require different
morphology, unconnected with the nasal-oral distinction.
This paper explores the distribution of nasal-prefix verbs in a range of varieties of Sasak,
using data from elicitation, narratives, conversations and experiments to determine how
these different varieties employ nasal-prefix verbs and which functions such verbs carry out.