Malay has four verbal prefixes(meN-, di-, ber- and ter-) which are often claimed to form a four-way paradigm characterized by primarily by voice and volitionality (Benjamin 1993, Hassan 1974). Wee (1995), however, demonstrates that the paradigm in fact involves a three-way distinction, and proposes that the distinction be based on volitionality, with 'voice' being distinguished internal to each category, as summarized below. MeN- and di- are both unspecified for volitionality while ber- and ter- are respectively marked as volitional and non-volitional.

(1)	vol [ ]	vol [+]	vol [-]
	meN-, di-	ber-	ter-

This paper develops the analysis further by deriving the notion of volitionality from the construal of events, and treating the prefixes instead as markers of the 'directedness of energy'. The theoretical starting point is a conception of the canonical event structure, where an agent volitionally initiates physical activity resulting in the transfer of energy from the agent to an external patient (Langacker 1991: 285). Deviations from the canonical structure are, of course, to be expected. But the question arises as to which deviations are linguistically coded.

Ter- codes situations where there is no directed energy, so that the prefix is compatible both with situations that appear 'autonomous' and situations where an agent is the energy source, but does not direct it, which is why the prefix is associated with a lack of volitionality. Ber- codes situations where energy is directed inwards, which thus leads to associations with reflexivity and volitionality. Finally, meN- and di- code situations where energy is directed outwards towards an external patient, and are closest in coding canonical events.

A consequence of the analysis presented here is that the prefixes are not organized according to a flat structure as in (1) above, but a hierarchical structure as in (2) below.

(2)	Is energy directed?
	If no: ter-	If yes: Is it directed inwards or outwards?
		If inwards: ber-    If outwards: meN-,di-

References

Benjamin, Geoffrey (1993). Grammar and polity: the cultural and political background to Standard Malay. In William Foley, ed., The Role of Theory in Language Description. New York: Mouten de Gruyter.
Hassan, Abdullah (1974). The Morphology of Malay. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Langacker, Ronald (1991). Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, Vol 2. Stanford University Press.
Wee, Lionel (1995). Verbal Prefixation in Malay: Reconfiguring Paradigmatic Relations. Proceedings of the 21^st Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society.