Post-verbal subjects in an SV language

In this talk, I explore the use of post-verbal subject pronouns (VS_pro) in Patani (South Halmahera-West New Guinea, Austronesian). VS_pro is a surprising phenomenon in Patani, which otherwise displays SV order. In interpreting occurrences of VS_pro, predicate class plays a crucial role. VS_pro is attested with controlled events (motion and location verbs – called Active verbs in Patani) on the one hand, and uncontrolled events (called non-Active) on the other. When VS_pro occurs with a motion or location verb, it seems to express finality, as in (2) below, or unexpectedness.

1) m-fyan            nniy                             2)        m-fyan             aw       to

    2SG-go           COAST                                   2SG-go           2SG     already

    ‘you went coastwards’                                  ‘you’re gone’ (you’re not coming back)

With non-Active predicates on the other hand, no difference in meaning from its (S)V counterpart is detected. I propose that VS_pro with such predicates can be understood as relics of an earlier system of semantic or active alignment (Croft 2022), which is still found in other languages in the region (see Klamer 2008, Holton 2008, Schapper 2015). This means that even though they are formally similar, VS_pro-Active and VS_pro-non-Active are in fact two different constructions.