agent/patient

[Wallace Chafe]

Dear Suzette,

You wonder about an agent being necessary "as only some sort of
indefinite." I believe there are a number of languages (I am most familiar
with Caddo), where there is no passive as such, but a similar function is
performed by means of a so-called indefinite (I've called it in Caddo a
"defocusing") marker.  So the Caddo equivalent to "the oil was spilled" would
be "one spilled the oil".  The pronominal prefix translated "one" is in
the agent form.  Not at all unusual.  Interestingly, however, if the agent
is specifically identified, as in "the oil was spilled by the mechanic",
"the mechanic" would be added to the above construction as an oblique, in
a prepositional phrase, just as in English.

Wally Chafe