Alternations of Sri Lanka Malay

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Alternations

Alternation name	Coded?	Description	Examples	Verbs
U General NP drop	n	Any NP can be dropped without influencing the coding of the other NPs, or the coding of the verb.	(52) Spaaru oorang pada biini padale baawa aada. spaaru some oorang man pada pl biini wife pada=le pl=addit baawa bring aada exist ‘Some men had brought also their wives. / Some men had also brought their wives.’ ★	69
U General NP addition	n	An additional participant is added, which may have any case marking but accusative. The coding of the existing participants is not affected. The form of the verb is not affected either.		5
U Reciprocal alternation	n		(63) Suda puthrile biinile aràcaanda haarile sudhaathang. suda thus puthri=le queen=addit biini=le wife=addit arà-caanda nonpast-meet haari=le day=addit su-dhaathang past-come ‘Thus came the day when the wife and the queen were to meet.’ ★	1

			*Valency Patterns Leipzig online database* is edited by Hartmann, Iren & Haspelmath, Martin & Taylor, Bradley and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.