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In:The Documentarist Turn: From observable linguistic behaviour to typological generalizations
Edited by Sonja Riesberg, Uta Reinöhl and Birgit Hellwig
[Studies in Language Companion Series 240] 2026
► pp. 610–641

Chapter 22
The acquisition of symmetrical voice systems

Comparative notes on Tagalog, Indonesian, and Totoli

ORCiD logo with link | Universitat de Barcelona
ORCiD logo with link | University of the Philippines Manila
ORCiD logo with link | University of Frankfurt
ORCiD logo with link | Australian National University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Language documentation has the broad aim of building a representative evidence base across typologically diverse languages and contexts of use. One such context that is gaining increased attention is language acquisition, owing to its importance in language maintenance in an era of significant language endangerment and loss. In this chapter we discuss the acquisition of a typologically important feature of Austronesian languages — symmetrical voice — to which Nikolaus Himmelmann has made distinguished contributions. We consider three languages that span the commonly made divide between Philippine-type and Indonesian-type languages: Tagalog, Jakarta Indonesian, and Totoli. We first compare the previous literature on the acquisition of Tagalog and Indonesian, for which there is significant data. We then consider how Totoli differs from Philippine- and Indonesian-type languages, and, based on a preliminary corpus observation, make predictions on the acquisition process of the Totoli voice system.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Typology of western Austronesian symmetrical voice
    • 2.1The voice system of Philippine-type languages
    • 2.2The voice system of Indonesian-type languages
    • 2.3The voice system of North and Central Sulawesi languages
    • 2.4Differences beyond voice alternations: Word order and frequencies of actor and undergoer voice
  • 3.The acquisition of symmetrical voice
    • 3.1Child language data of western Austronesian languages
    • 3.2The input
      • 3.2.1Tagalog CDS
      • 3.2.2Jakarta Indonesian CDS
      • 3.2.3Predictions on Totoli CDS
    • 3.3Production of voice-marked predicates
      • 3.3.1Production in Tagalog
      • 3.3.2Production in Jakarta Indonesian
      • 3.3.3Predictions on production in Totoli
    • 3.4Use of morphosyntactic markers for thematic role assignment
      • 3.4.1Thematic role assignment in Tagalog
      • 3.4.2Thematic role assignment in Jakarta Indonesian
      • 3.4.3Predictions on thematic role assignment in Totoli
    • 3.5Word order in children’s productions of symmetrical voice structures
      • 3.5.1Word order in Tagalog
      • 3.5.2Word order in Indonesian
      • 3.5.3Predictions on word order in Totoli
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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