Passives1 Passive constructions Anna Siewierska (Lancaster University)

Passives2 A characterization: Siewierska (2005) A construction has been classified as passive if it displays the following characteristics It contrasts with another construction, the active The subject of the active corresponds to an oblique phrase or is not overtly expressed The subject of the passive if there is one, corresponds to the direct object of the active The construction is pragmatically restricted relative to the active The construction displays some special morphological marking of the verb

Passives3 Swahili a. Hamisia-li-pikachakula Hamisi3sg-past-cookfood `Hamisi cooked the/some food.’ b. Chakulaki-li-pika-wa(naHamisi) food3sg-past-cook-passbyHamisi `The food was cooked by Hamisi.’

Passives4 WALS : 373 lgs; 162 vs. 211

Passives5 Passive prototype: Shibatani (1985:837) An overt agent is not an integral part of the passive Primary pragmatic function: agent defocusing Semantic properties: Semantic valence: predicate (agent, patient) Subject: affected Syntactic properties Encoding: agent  Ø patient  subject

Passives6 Preference for agentless Xiao et al (2004) English get 8.5%; English be 10.8%: Sanso (2006); Old Italian reflexive 15.7%; Old Italian periphrastic 24.1% Keresztes (1998) Vogul (27%) Nikolaeva (1999) Ostyak (43%)

Passives7 Passive subjects Prototype = patient Other semantic roles, e.g. recipient, beneficiary, locative etc. My sister was given an incredible raise in salary. No subject =impersonal

Passives8 Icelandic a. Stulkan var lamin i klessu girl:nom was beaten: f:sg:nom in mess `The girl was badly beaten.’ b.Það var lamið stulkuna i klessu it was hit:neut:sg:acc girl:acc in mess `The girl was badly beaten.’

Passives9 Pragmatic restrictions Passives less frequent than actives Passives are felicitous only under certain conditions Passives vs. Philippine focus structures

Passives10 Cebuano a.Mo-palitangtawouglibro AF-buyTopmanabook `The man will buy a book.’ b.Palit-on(satawo)anglibro buy-GFthemanTopbook `The man will buy the book.

Passives11 Against Ph. Focus as passive they exhibit a very high text frequency; the agent is typically overt and manifests some properties associated with syntactic arguments as opposed to adjuncts; they are semantically highly transitive in the sense of Hopper & Thompson (1980); and the verb does not exhibit special marking, as it is also marked in the actor focus construction.

Passives12 Verbal marking periphrastic vs. synthetic synthetic: origin of marker Former auxiliary Reflexive marker Generalized human subject no verbal marking?

Passives13 Three domains: Givon (1984) Topicalization Agent defocusing (impersonalization) Detransitivization

Passives14 Topicalization Not a necessary characteristic In some languages passives are similar to OVS OV-s

Passives15 Agent defocusing Active:The agent is more topical than the patient but the patient retains considerable topicality. PassiveThe patient is more topical than the agent and the agent is extremely non-topical (suppressed, demoted).

Passives16 Inverse The direct voice is used if the agent is more topical or ontologically salient than the patient, and the inverse if the patient is more topical or ontologically salient than the agent. Traditionally the more salient or topical participant is called the proximate and the less salient or topical one the obviative

Passives17 Inverse Plains Cree (Wolfart 1973:25) a.sekih-ew napew antim-wa scare-dir man:prox dog-obv `The man scares the dog.' b.sekih-ik napew-a antim scare-inv man-obv dog:prox `The man scares the dog.'

Passives18 Active, Passive, Inverse Active:The agent is more topical than the patient but the patient retains considerable topicality. InverseThe patient is more topical than the agent but the agent retains considerable topicality. PassiveThe patient is more topical than the agent and the agent is extremely non-topical (suppressed, demoted).

Passives19 Active impersonal Portuguese Corta- se cabelos às terças Cut:pres:3sg refl:3sghair:pl on Tuesdays `One cuts hair on Tuesdays.'…………… Polish W szkole Piotrowi często dokucza-no in school Peter:dat often make fun:imper ‘At school, Peter was often made fun of.’

Passives20 Detransitivizing Anticausatives a. The wind broke the branch. b. The branch broke. Spontaneous (uncontrolled) Polish Odbiło mi się hit:neut:3sg I:dat refl `I hiccupped.’

Passives21 Voice Narrow view of voice: Active vs. passive vs. middle (reflexive/reciprocal) vs. inverse Broad view of voice; (Leningrad School (diathesis, Kulikov 2007; Croft 2001; Langacker 2004; Shibatani 2006) Voice is primarily concerned with the way event participants are involved in actions, and with the communicative value, or discourse relevance pertaining to the event participants for the nature of this involvement (Shibatani 2006:219) 1 – multiparticipant events

Passives22 Voice: Shibatani 2006 OriginDevelopment Termination Spontaneous MiddleBenefactive Passive AntipassiveApplicative CausativeExternal Possessor Inverse DesiderativeResultative Potential

Passives23 Parameters of variation Synchronic The agent The subject Verbal morphology Diachronic Origin of verbal marking Origin of agent marking Degree of grammaticalization

Passives24 The grammaticalization clines Phonological change P: Attrition: reduction > erosion > loss S: Fusion: Free > clitic > affix > zero Morpho-syntactic change P. obligatorification > fossilization > morphological loss S. rigidification [word order] Semantic functional change P. extension of semantic range > loss of function S. idiomaticization: compositional & analyzable > noncompositional & analyzable > unanalyzable