Grammatical relations in passive clauses
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T. Givón
Abstract
The paper first recapitulates a point made repeatedly elsewhere (Givón 1981, 1994 ed., 1995, 2001, 2002): that a syntactic typology of any clause-type, including the passive, is meaningless unless clause-types are first characterized as functional domains. Using as examples six widely-attested types of passive clauses, the paper then shows that the relational (GR) properties of those clauses, much like their other structural properties, are completely predictable from the structural properties of their source – non-passive – constructions. Because functional re-analysis is the earliest stage of diachronic change, the diachronic predictability of the structural properties of newly- reanalyzed clauses is most conspicuous at the earlier stages of grammaticalization, when structural re-shaping has not yet taken place. The diachronic determination of syntactic structures thus closely parallels the evolutionary determination of biological structures. An extant (‘synchronic’) structure in both domains is thus best characterized by the pathway through which it came to be. Consequently, much like in biology, where the most meaningful universals are evolutionary, the most meaningful universals of linguistic structure are diachronic.
Abstract
The paper first recapitulates a point made repeatedly elsewhere (Givón 1981, 1994 ed., 1995, 2001, 2002): that a syntactic typology of any clause-type, including the passive, is meaningless unless clause-types are first characterized as functional domains. Using as examples six widely-attested types of passive clauses, the paper then shows that the relational (GR) properties of those clauses, much like their other structural properties, are completely predictable from the structural properties of their source – non-passive – constructions. Because functional re-analysis is the earliest stage of diachronic change, the diachronic predictability of the structural properties of newly- reanalyzed clauses is most conspicuous at the earlier stages of grammaticalization, when structural re-shaping has not yet taken place. The diachronic determination of syntactic structures thus closely parallels the evolutionary determination of biological structures. An extant (‘synchronic’) structure in both domains is thus best characterized by the pathway through which it came to be. Consequently, much like in biology, where the most meaningful universals are evolutionary, the most meaningful universals of linguistic structure are diachronic.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributor's addresses vii
- Abbreviations ix
- Introduction: Passivization and typology 1
-
Active–passive and reflexives
- Passives in Lithuanian (in comparison with Russian) 29
- Passive and middle in Indo-European 62
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Triggers — aspectual, semantic, and discourse-pragmatic: case studies
- Pragmatic nature of Mandarin passive-like constructions 83
- Development of thùuk passive marker in Thai 115
- The passives of Modern Irish 132
- The passive in Erzya-Mordvin folklore 165
- Grammatical voice and tense-aspect in Slavic 191
- Passive in Nganasan 213
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Actor demotion
- 'Agent defocusing' revisited 232
- Relations between Actor-demoting devices in Lithuanian 274
-
Grammaticalization in long-term diachrony
- The rise and grammaticalization paths of Latin fieri and facere as passive auxiliaries 311
- Grammatical relations in passive clauses 337
-
Argument structure and case
- Two types of detransitive constructions in the dialects of Japanese 352
- Passive and argument structure 373
- Case-driven agree, EPP, and passive in Turkish 383
- A unique feature of the direct passive in Japanese 403
-
Actor demotion
- Passive as a feature-suppression operation 442
-
Event semantics — Aspectual and semantic triggers
- The compositional nature of the passive 462
- The impersonal passive 502
- Simple preterit and composite perfect tense 518
- Author index 544
- Subject index 548
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributor's addresses vii
- Abbreviations ix
- Introduction: Passivization and typology 1
-
Active–passive and reflexives
- Passives in Lithuanian (in comparison with Russian) 29
- Passive and middle in Indo-European 62
-
Triggers — aspectual, semantic, and discourse-pragmatic: case studies
- Pragmatic nature of Mandarin passive-like constructions 83
- Development of thùuk passive marker in Thai 115
- The passives of Modern Irish 132
- The passive in Erzya-Mordvin folklore 165
- Grammatical voice and tense-aspect in Slavic 191
- Passive in Nganasan 213
-
Actor demotion
- 'Agent defocusing' revisited 232
- Relations between Actor-demoting devices in Lithuanian 274
-
Grammaticalization in long-term diachrony
- The rise and grammaticalization paths of Latin fieri and facere as passive auxiliaries 311
- Grammatical relations in passive clauses 337
-
Argument structure and case
- Two types of detransitive constructions in the dialects of Japanese 352
- Passive and argument structure 373
- Case-driven agree, EPP, and passive in Turkish 383
- A unique feature of the direct passive in Japanese 403
-
Actor demotion
- Passive as a feature-suppression operation 442
-
Event semantics — Aspectual and semantic triggers
- The compositional nature of the passive 462
- The impersonal passive 502
- Simple preterit and composite perfect tense 518
- Author index 544
- Subject index 548
