Torn World Verbs: Voices
Voice in a verb tells something about the direction of the verb’s action. For example, in active voice the subject performs the verb’s action; in passive voice, some other agent performs the verb’s action upon the subject. English encodes voice with a combination of verb form, auxiliary verbs, and other words. Torn Tongue uses a more concise set of suffixes.
The voice suffix is the second of the verb suffixes. It attaches to the tense suffix (if any). Active voice is the “default” and so its suffix may be omitted if not needed as a base for another suffix. Northerners, with their habit of dropping whole syllables, are more likely to do this.
Active -- the subject is the agent of the verb. ("Everyone loves my mother.")
Passive -- the subject is the target of the verb. ("My mother is loved by everyone.")
Reflexive -- the subject and the object of the verb are the same. ("I love myself.")
Reciprocal -- the subject and the object perform the verb on each other. ("I love my mother and my mother loves me.")
Causative -- an agent forces a patient to perform an action or exist in a state. ("I made my spouse fall in love with me.")
Adjutative -- an agent assists a patient to perform an action or exist in a state. ("I helped my spouse fall in love with me.")
Voice ............... Suffix
Active (default) .. la
Causative ......... li
Adjutative ......... lu
Passive ............ ra
Reflexive ........... ri
Reciprocal ........ ru
Note that not all cultures make equal use of these voices. The Southern culture tends to make far more use of passive voice than either Ancient or Northern, for the same reason English is a popular business language: "Mistakes were made. Others will be blamed." (This is sometimes called the “passive exonerative.”) The Northern culture emphasizes the reciprocal voice, because their tight-knit social structure relies heavily on cooperation, sharing, trading, and other harmonious exchanges.
Here are some new verbs for you:
English ..................... Torn Tongue
to care .......................aso
to carry ......................elbe
to cause...................... il
to chain .......................amilju
to chance..................... ume
to color .......................evi
to comb...................... imath
to comfort ...................asii
to compare.................. ova
to complete .................erreme
to connect.................. eraa
to control ....................alamei
to cook ......................eg
to copy .....................ererye
to cough ....................arka
to cover .....................ebami
to crack .....................ereg
to credit ....................ervess
to cry .......................uma
to curve .....................arerai
to cushion ................eralta
to cut .....................iju (Ancient, North)
to cut, to tear ..........ateff (South)
So for example ...
English ........................Torn Tongue
cared for another .......... asomoila
cause to care .............. asomaili
will help care .............. asomeilu
was combed ...................... imathoira
comb oneself ..................... imathairi
will comb each other............ imatheiru