Getting the -ik: An anticausative structure in Kirundi

This paper discusses the morpheme -ik in the Bantu language Kirundi (JD62). Dom et al. (2018) put forth a Proto-Bantu 'neuter middle marker' following Kemmer's (1993) 'middle domain', from which a Kirundi -ik can clearly be derived. They find that derivations of this marker occur in anticausative, agentless passive, and passive constructions in various Bantu languages. This paper demonstrates that Kirundi -ik is an anticausative marker, distinct in use and meaning from the true passive (marked with -u). This follows from tests in Alexiadou et al. (2006) and Gluckman and Bowler (2016). After determining its anticausative nature, I will discuss -ik's syntactic properties. Using the layering approach of change-of-state verbs as posited by Alexiadou et al. (2006) and Kratzer (2005), I will argue that -ik is an overt realization of Voice, providing evidence for a null semantic Voice in the crosslinguistic account of anticausatives theorized in Alexiadou et al. (2015).