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(452) Ilo manit in Majel, leddik re-j jab ekkōnak jedoujij.
in custom of Marshalls girl 3pl.agr-T(pres) neg wear.intrans pants
'In Marshallese custom, girls don't wear pants.'
In (453) and (454), these three prepositions are used in agent phrases of passive
sentences.
(453) a. Jaki ko re-kar lemlem ippā-n ajri ro.
mat the.pl.nh 3pl.agr-T(past) fold.intrans with-3s child the.pl.h
'The mats were folded by the children.'
b. Jaki ko re-kar lemlem jān ajri ro.
mat the.pl.nh 3pl.agr-T(past) fold.intrans from child the.pl.h
'The mats were folded by the children.'
c. Jaki ko re-kar lemlem in ajri ro.
mat the.pl.nh 3pl.agr-T(past) fold.intrans of child the.pl.h
'The mats were folded by the children.'
(454) a. Amimōno ko r-ar āj ippā-n kōrā eo.
handicraft the.pl.nh 3pl.agr-T(past) weave.intrans with-3s woman the.s
'The handicrafts were woven by the woman.'
b. Amimōno ko r-ar āj jān kōrā eo.
handicraft the.pl.nh 3pl.agr-T(past) weave.intrans from woman the.s
'The handicrafts were woven by the woman.'
c. Amimōno ko r-ar āj in kōrā eo.
handicraft the.pl.nh 3pl.agr-T(past) weave.intrans of woman the.s
'The handicrafts were woven by the woman.'
Pagotto (1992) notes that agent phrases headed by ippān are not grammatical to
all speakers. To this I would add that some speakers find agent phrases headed by jān
ungrammatical. Of the speakers I consulted, one of them had a strong preference to
translate agent phrases with the preposition jān but did not find those with ippān
grammatical, while another speaker found those with ippān completely grammatical but
often found those with jān ungrammatical. One factor that may be affecting these results
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