Chapter 86Reciprocal u- and Joint Participation

86.1 Mutual action

In a canonical reciprocal, participants act on one another. Prefixing u- to a two-place verb identifies each participant as both actor and affected participant, producing an intransitive verb with a semantically plural subject Bugaeva & Kobayashi (2022: §4.2.1). Nakagawa illustrates the pattern with koyki → u-koyki “attack → fight each other” and siru → u-siru “rub → rub against each other” Nakagawa (2024: 186).

This intransitivizing pattern concerns a two-place base. Other reciprocal constructions retain an object or have reciprocating participants who are objects of a larger causative predicate. Their argument frames belong to the same broader system described in Chapter 73 (Valency and Voice Constructions).

86.2 Retained objects and object-oriented reciprocals

With a three-place base, an indirect reciprocal can identify the actor and addressee while leaving the theme as an object. The Handbook gives u-w-e-pakasnu “teach it to each other,” after Tamura's dictionary. Here w is a linking consonant and e- introduces the subject matter Bugaeva & Kobayashi (2022: §4.2.1, example 10c).

Causativizing a reciprocal adds a causer. In the following example, the younger brother causes the villagers to fight one another.

Joining constructions provide another object-oriented pattern. The joined things can be expressed as two nouns. The Handbook analyzes the base of u-ko-sina as a three-place applicative Bugaeva & Kobayashi (2022: §4.2.1, example 12).

86.3 Reciprocal possession

The reciprocal can supply the possessor of an incorporated noun. The Handbook calls u-oruspe-nu “listen to each other's stories” and u-tek-kisma “seize each other's hands” quasi-possessive reciprocals. It cautiously observes that corresponding non-incorporated expressions seem absent Bugaeva & Kobayashi (2022: §4.2.1, example 13 and following discussion). Reflexive possessors have related constructions; see Chapter 84 (Reflexive yay- and Its Extensions).

The prefix also occurs with locative nouns, postpositions and adverbs, including u-sam “near each other,” u-tura “together,” and u-neno “similar to each other” Bugaeva & Kobayashi (2022: §4.2.1). These uses need their own word-class analysis; a nominal or adverbial form does not itself undergo verbal detransitivization.

86.4 Joint participation and sociatives

Some u- formations express joint participation without two parallel acts directed at one another. Nakagawa's u-tures-kor refers to a brother and younger sister, with the brother presented as the grammatical subject. His u-mina-re describes people laughing together. The latter combines a one-place base, a causative and a reciprocal: 1 + 1 − 1 = 1 Nakagawa (2024: 186–187). The conventional meaning is established by usage, beyond this argument count.

Sociative uko- and uwe- express doing something together while retaining the base's valency. The Handbook relates them to reciprocal-plus-applicative combinations Bugaeva & Kobayashi (2022: §4.3.2). Nakagawa contrasts intransitive u-kor “marry” with transitive u-ko-kor “have together” Nakagawa (2024: 211).