Verbal Clause Construction of Ciacia Language: Syntactic Typology Study

Abstract

Typology study of Ciacia language (CL) in various linguistic aspects has not been
conducted yet. It is the first study that focus on syntactic typology. Ciacia language is one of
local languages in Buton Regency, Southeast Sulawesi Province. The study focuses on five main
problems, they are (1) How is the base construction of verbal clause in CL? (2) How are the
predicate and structure argument constructions of verbal clause in CL, (3) How are the simple
predicate and complex predicate constructions of verbal clause in CL? (4) How are valency and
valency change mechanism of verbal clause construction in CL? (5) How are complex sentence
construction and grammatical alliance system?. The oral data of this study is obtained through
recording and elicitation techniques. Written data is obtained through the previous studies. The
study also used synthetic data which is verrified by the informants. The data was analyzed by
apportion (distributional) method.
The investigation of clause base construction shows that verbal clause construction of
Ciacia language is always filled by subject and aspect markers (PS/A) that is affixed to PRED
verb. Base structure of verbal clause in CL consists of verbal predicated clause and non-verbal
predicated clause. Non-verbal predicated clause can be constructed through base nominal and
adjective categories. Verbal clause predicate can be filled by intransitive base verb, mono
transitive base verb, ditransitive base verb, and ambi-transitive base verb.
Predication and argument structure of verbal clause construction in CL can be classified
in to verbal clause: (i) intransitive with one main argument in terms of SUBJ and as A or OBJ
systematically; (ii) semi-transitive with one main argument as A/ACT and with the presence
of OBJ argument optionally; (iii) mono-transitive with two main arguments, namely SUBJ as
A/ACT with one OBJ argument as UND, (iv) ditransitive with three main arguments, namely
SUBJ as A/ACT before PRED and two arguments after PRED, in terms of OTL (indirect
object) and OL (direct object); and (v) ambi-transitive with one main argument, namely
SUBJ, either as Sa or as So.
Valency and transitivity of verbal clause construction in CL consists of (i) valency and
intransitive verb transitivity with one argument or verb with one valency; (ii) semi-transitive
verb with one argument before verb and the presence of argument after Pred verb optionally;
(iii) transitive with the obligatory of O presence after Pred verb, so it has two main arguments or
verb that has two valency arguments, namely S and O; (iv) ditransitive with three main arguments or verb that has three valency arguments; (v) ambi-transitive with only one argument
or verb that has one valency.
Verbal clause construction in CL can be filled by simple Pred verb and complex Pred
verb. Simple predicate is created by base verb/intransitive verb and non-verb category, semi-
transitive verb, and transitive verb with PS/A. Complex predicate is created through verb (i)
intransitive; (ii) semi-transitive verb; and (iii) transitive integral verb. The valency change
mechanism of verbal clause construction in CL can be done through formal causativation and
semantic causativation, applicative, and resultative.