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Let's Make a Language: Day 11, The (not so) Passive Voice and the Causative

Today we're talking about the passive voice in Munya~! As a topic prominent language, Munya doesn't exactly have a proper way to make a passive voice, nor does it need one because the topic of a sentence can be whatever the speaker so pleases; however, the helper verb [xiwa] can be used to specifically point out that the speaker is unsure about the identity of agent, or to avoid responsibilities.

Lesle husa hiwa le.
[les1.lə xu1.sa5 xiwa lə]
mirror break give-PST RES
(the) mirror broke.

Munya does not require a dummy subject, but a generic word like "someone" or "person" can be used as a placeholder depending on the context.

Balne pe hiwa fyama le.
[pʰa1.ne5 pe5 xiwa ˈfʲa5.ma lə]
fruit-1POSS eat give-PST person RES
my fruit was eaten by someone.

As for the causative, we don't need anything special to express that already in Munya, all we need to do is create a sentence like:

Wa na ge wa ni pe ba.
[wa1 na kʰe wa ni pe5 pʰa1]
2SG TOP tell PST 1SG eat fruit
as for you, you told me (to) eat (the) fruit.

Using the word [kʰe] "to tell" or [kʰa] "to make or cause" can get across a causative relationship.

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