Prototypically, the central participants of the event are packaged as the core arguments of the predicate. The information packaging of participants in events need not follow this pattern. The prototypical packaging represents the basic voice construction; nonprototypical packagings represent different types of nonbasic voice constructions. The basic and nonbasic voice constructions involve a system of strategies: nonbasic voice constructions are differentiated from basic voice construction to different degrees, ranging from just word order differences to differences in the type of argument phrase a participant is encoded in. Passive--inverse constructions are used for a P (patient-like) participant that is more salient than the A (agent-like) participant; differential object (and subject) marking are similar in function. Antipassive constructions are used for a P participant that is even less salient than a prototypical P participant, and that is expressed by an oblique argument phrase or an incorporated noun (if it is expressed at all).
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