Mismatch: morphosyntax: pseudo-object
Verbs mark person-number of the object as well as the subject:
| object | 'he is cutting...' |
| 1SG | qet -it -ina |
| 2SG | qet -ih -ina |
| 3SG | qet -ud -ina |
| 1DU | qet -il -ina |
| 2/3DU | qet -ale -ina |
| 1PL | qet -ig -ina |
| 2/3PL | qet -ade -ina |
Some verbs obligatorily take 3rd singular object markers, this class includes intransitives which cannot take an overt object NP, e.g. 'struggle', 'chant', 'excel', 'whisper', 'multiply', 'gather', 'change', 'stamp', 'spit', 'try' (pp. 281-284). Note there is also a class of verbs which cannot take object markers even where there is an overt object NP (p. 286ff.).
Roberts (pp. 288-291) speculates that the difference is between ‘goal-oriented’ and ‘agent-oriented’ verbs, (the former having the semantics one would associate with transitives, the latter with intransitive), though he acknowledges that the distinction is not all that clear.
References
Roberts, John R. 1987. Amele. London: Croom-Helm.