(Non-)canonical passives and reflexives
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Dalina Kallulli
Abstract
This paper highlights similarities between two classes of arguably non-canonical passives, namely ‘deponent’ verbs familiar from Latin, and ‘inherent reflexive’ verbs in Germanic and Romance, arguing that the latter are the counterparts of the former – notably, both classes of verbs are denominal/deadjectival. Building on the idea that overt morphological voice markings reflect feature distinctions associated with v0 in the syntax, I argue that the special ‘unaccusative’ morphology (i.e. reflexive or non-active) doesn’t just bear on the absence of an external argument in the syntax, but on the presence of an actor-initiation feature of v0 in syntactic configurations lacking an external argument, which accounts for facts such as the ubiquity of reflexive marking across inherent and non-inherent reflexive predicates, and others.
Abstract
This paper highlights similarities between two classes of arguably non-canonical passives, namely ‘deponent’ verbs familiar from Latin, and ‘inherent reflexive’ verbs in Germanic and Romance, arguing that the latter are the counterparts of the former – notably, both classes of verbs are denominal/deadjectival. Building on the idea that overt morphological voice markings reflect feature distinctions associated with v0 in the syntax, I argue that the special ‘unaccusative’ morphology (i.e. reflexive or non-active) doesn’t just bear on the absence of an external argument in the syntax, but on the presence of an actor-initiation feature of v0 in syntactic configurations lacking an external argument, which accounts for facts such as the ubiquity of reflexive marking across inherent and non-inherent reflexive predicates, and others.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Non-canonical passives 1
- Adjectival passives and adjectival participles in English 21
- The get -passive at the intersection of get and the passive 43
- Three “competing” auxiliaries of a non-canonical passive 63
- Variations in non-canonical passives 95
- How much bekommen is there in the German bekommen passive? 115
- Haben -statives in German 141
- Another passive that isn’t one 163
- Passives and near-passives in Balto-Slavic 185
- How do things get done 213
- Anticausativizing a causative verb 235
- On the syntax-semantics of passives in Persian 261
- Two indirect passive constructions in Japanese 281
- Få and its passive complement 297
- The Danish reportive passive as a non-canonical passive 315
- (Non-)canonical passives and reflexives 337
- Index 359
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Non-canonical passives 1
- Adjectival passives and adjectival participles in English 21
- The get -passive at the intersection of get and the passive 43
- Three “competing” auxiliaries of a non-canonical passive 63
- Variations in non-canonical passives 95
- How much bekommen is there in the German bekommen passive? 115
- Haben -statives in German 141
- Another passive that isn’t one 163
- Passives and near-passives in Balto-Slavic 185
- How do things get done 213
- Anticausativizing a causative verb 235
- On the syntax-semantics of passives in Persian 261
- Two indirect passive constructions in Japanese 281
- Få and its passive complement 297
- The Danish reportive passive as a non-canonical passive 315
- (Non-)canonical passives and reflexives 337
- Index 359
