[Lingtyp] “passive lability” in Modern Western Aramaic

[Sergey Loesov]

Dear colleagues,

This is a follow-up to my query about “passive lability” in Modern Western
Aramaic, i.e., about past-tense forms of transitive verbs with both active
and passive readings.

I am now engaged in fieldwork on Modern Western Aramaic in Syrian Qalamoun.
Today one of my informants produced the following utterance (while working
with the verb *čbr *‘to break’):

*Ḥanān čbirōl battixča, hoš battixča čbīra.*

*Ḥanān*

*čbir-ō-l*

*battix-č-a*

*hoš*

*battix-č-a*

*čbīr-a*

pn

break.prf-f-dom

watermelon-f-free

now

watermelon-f-free

broken-fs.indf



‘Hanan has broken the watermelon (by chance), now the watermelon is broken.’

(Here the verb form *čbīra* ‘has broken/is broken’ appears in both active
and passive readings.)

 But he rejects

**Ḥanān čbirōl kīsa.*

*Ḥanān*

*čbir-ō-l*

*kīs-a*

pn

break.prf-f-dom

twig-free



‘Hanan has broken the twig.’

(When Hanan *intentionally* broke the twig against her knee, in order to
elicit the informant’s response.)

Instead, he approves of

*Ḥanān čabraččəl kīsa.*

*Ḥanān*

*čabr-ač-č-l*

*kīs-a*

pn

break.pret-3fs-pleo-dom

twig-free



‘Hanan broke the twig.’



How can one approach this piece of evidence?

Best wishes,

 Sergey
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