Tidore
Person table
| gloss | layer | 1 sg | 2 | 3 sg m | 3 sg f | 1 pl | 1incl pl | 3 sg n | 3 pl m | 3 pl f | 3 pl n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| go (agent) | prefix | to | no | wo | mo | mo | fo | yo | yo | yo | yo |
| child (possessor) | prefix | ri | na | i | mi | mi | ni | ma | na | na | ma |
| go (agent) | lexeme | totagi | notagi | wotagi | motagi | motagi | fotagi | yotagi | yotagi | yotagi | yotagi |
| child (possessor) | lexeme | ringofa | nangofa | ingofa | mingofa | mingofa | ningofa | mangofa | nangofa | nangofa | mangofa |
Tidore notes
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Agent marking on verbs is optional. Van Staden (2000: 79) writes:
The distribution of the actor prefix is certainly also related to pragmatic factors: if a participant is deemed sufficiently known, it need not be expressed. Arguably, the addition of the actor prefix highlights both the first argument and his or her 'actorhood'. In some publications on the North Halmahera languages, attempts have been made to relate the distribution of the actor prefix directly to 'given' or 'new' topics (Shelden 1986; Wimbish 1991). Most of the theories used still appear to be circular, i.e. something is 'given' because it is presented as 'given'. For Tidore, at least, I have not been able to actually predict the use of the full pronoun or the prefix, which should be possible if there is such a direct link.
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Possessed noun prefixes may also be omitted, though not as frequently as agent prefixes.
References
van Staden, Miriam. 2000. Tidore: a linguistic description of a language of the North Moluccas. PhD thesis, University of Leiden.