Neutral and Abilitative/Involuntariness Morphology in Waray: A Comparative Analysis of the g- Prefix

This paper seeks to evaluate the proposed g- prefix in Waray according to Dell’s (1983) “Neutral (N) and Abilitative/involuntariness (AIA)” analysis for the closely related language Tagalog. Payne and Oyzon (2010) interpret the g- as a standalone morpheme denoting what they call “deliberate mood.” Others see the g- as a part of the prefixes nag-, mag-, gin-, etc. (Rubino 2001, Diller 1971). I will demonstrate that Payne and Oyzon’s “deliberate mood” is likely not necessary. Thus, my paper will provide an analysis that is preferable because it demonstrates that Waray agrees with other analyses in the Philippine-type literature. To accomplish this, I will use Waray data to show that when the g- prefix is used (here, interpreted as N morphology), the action only entails the maneuver and intention not the result, even though it may be heavily implied. Conversely, the AIA morphology entails the result, while not directly entailing either maneuver or intention. Thus, Dell’s analysis for Tagalog works quite well for Waray and allows us to account for g- as “deliberate mood.”