A comparative typological analysis of passivisation and functional alternatives: Keenan’s passive universals in Eshkevari Gilaki (EG), Hungarian, and lingua franca languages
-
Yasin Khoshhaldelijani
Abstract
Passives in some languages are less frequent than in English, and this infrequency is compensated for by alternatives. This typological analysis focuses on passivisation and semi-passive constructions in two lesser-studied languages: Eshkevari Gilaki (EG) and Hungarian. For comparative context, three widely-studied lingua franca languages, English, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic, are also referenced. It evaluates these languages’ conformity to Edward L. Keenan’s universals of passive productivity. The synthesised data are derived from native speakers and existing literature. Hungarian and EG, being topic-prominent, adopt passive-like functional alternatives such as agentless clauses, impersonals and middles. Moreover, the observations challenge the assumed direct correlation between syntactic flexibility and passive productivity. Despite its less-configurational nature, Hungarian prioritises pragmatic role assignment over syntactic promotion. This analysis proposes an extension of Keenan’s framework, arguing that typological restrictions on passivisation emanate not from structural incapacity but from morphosyntactic conditions and discourse-pragmatic priorities. It is also suggested that, given the unique features observed in EG (inchoatives and middles) and Hungarian (telicity), functional alternatives and semi-passives should be integrated into cross-linguistic typology, particularly for languages with low EGIDS rankings.
Acknowledgments
I thank Allah and Ahlulbayt for helping me complete this project, my colleagues, native speakers of Arabic, Chinese, and Hungarian, for providing samples and valuable comments, my family, native speakers of Eshkevari Gilaki, for providing samples and their support, especially my wife, without whom this research could not have been completed, and my teacher, Dr. Nikolett F. Gulyás, who ignited my interest in conducting a typological linguistic analysis.
-
Research ethics: Not applicable.
-
Informed consent: Not applicable.
-
Author contributions: The author has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
-
Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: The author used GPT 3.5 and GPT 4 for proofreading the content of the manuscript.
-
Conflict of interest: The author states no conflict of interest.
-
Research funding: None declared.
-
Data availability: Not applicable.
References
Aarts, Bas. 2024. English syntax and argumentation. London: Palgrave Publishers Ltd.Search in Google Scholar
Abu-Chacra, Faruk. 2017. Arabic: An essential grammar. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315620091Search in Google Scholar
Al-Raba’a, Basem. 2013. The grammatical influence of English on Arabic in the passive voice in translation. International Journal of Linguistics 5(1). 204–218.10.5296/ijl.v5i1.3306Search in Google Scholar
Alberti, Gábor. 1996. Passivization types in Hungarian. In Proceedings of the third international conference on the structure of Hungarian. Amsterdam.Search in Google Scholar
Alexiadou, Artemis. 2017. Passives and syntax. In Mark Aronoff (ed.), Oxford research encyclopedia of linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.194Search in Google Scholar
Birhan, Yelay. 2017. Assessment of the qualities of academic writing in senior essays of English graduates: The case of Dire Dawa University. International Journal of English and Literature 8(8). 102–114. https://doi.org/10.5897/IJEL2015.0777.Search in Google Scholar
Borjian, Habib. 2004. Māzandarān: Language and people (the state of research). In Iran & the Caucasus, 289–328. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4030997.10.1163/1573384043076045Search in Google Scholar
Borjian, Maryam & Habib Borjian. 2023. At the crossroads: Caspian languages through a sociolinguistic lens. In Anousha Sedighi (ed.), Iranian and minority languages at home and in diaspora, 9–36. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.10.1515/9783110694277-002Search in Google Scholar
Bubenik, Vit. 1979. Thematization and passivization in Arabic. Lingua 49(4). 295–313. https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(79)90045-7.Search in Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan L. 2010. Markedness: Iconicity, economy, and frequency. In Jae Jung Song (ed.), The Oxford handbook of linguistic typology, 131–147. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199281251.013.0008Search in Google Scholar
Charles, N. Li & Sandra A. Thompson. 1989. Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar, vol. 3. California: University of California Press.Search in Google Scholar
Chu, Chauncey C. 1973. The passive construction: Chinese and English. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 1(3). 437–470.Search in Google Scholar
Collins, Chris. 2005. A smuggling approach to the passive in English. Syntax 8(2). 81–120. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9612.2005.00076.x.Search in Google Scholar
Darzi, Ali & Maryam Danaye Tousi. 2005. Sākht-e ghayr-shakhsi dar guyesh-e Gilaki-ye shahrestān-e Lāhijān [Impersonal construction in the Gilaki dialect of Lahijan city]. The Academy of Persian Language and Literature (Dialectology) 2.Search in Google Scholar
Darzi, Ali & Maryam Danaye Tousi. 2016. Sākht-e ghayr-shakhsi dar Gilaki-ye Langarud [Impersonal construction in Gilaki of Langroud]. Language Related Research 7(5). 119–142.Search in Google Scholar
Davidse, Kristin & Liesbet Heyvaert. 2007. On the middle voice: An interpersonal analysis of the English middle. Linguistics 45(1). 37–83. https://doi.org/10.1515/LING.2007.002.Search in Google Scholar
Depraetere, Ilse & Raphael Salkie. 2015. Tense. In Nick Riemer (ed.), The Routledge handbook of semantics, 354–369. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Deyhim, Giti. 2010. Dialectological Atlas of Qasran-e Dakhel. Tehran: Soroush.Search in Google Scholar
Dezső, László. 1988. Passiveness in Hungarian: With reference to Russian passive. In Masayoshi Shibatani (ed.), Passive and voice, 291–328. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.10.1075/tsl.16.10dezSearch in Google Scholar
El-Yasin, Mohammad K. 1996. The passive voice: A problem for the English-Arabic translator. Babel 42(1). 18–26. https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.42.1.03ely.Search in Google Scholar
Estival, Dominique. 1985. Syntactic priming of the passive in English. Text – Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse 5(1–2). 7–22. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1985.5.1-2.7.Search in Google Scholar
Fennig, Charles D., David M. Eberhard & Gary F. Simons (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue: Languages of Asia. Dallas: SIL International Publications.Search in Google Scholar
Fenyvesi, Anna. 2005. Az USA nyelvpolitikájának hatása az amerikai magyarok anyanyelvi oktatására. In Attila Benő & N. Sándor Szilágyi (eds.), Nyelvi közösségek – nyelvi jogok, 105–115. Kolozsvár: Anyanyelvápolók Erdélyi Szövetsége.Search in Google Scholar
Gordon, Raymond G. (ed.). 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the world, 15th edn. Dallas: SIL International Publications.Search in Google Scholar
Grady, Michael. 1969. Varieties of the English middle voice and medio-passive. Linguistics 7(54). 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1969.7.54.5.Search in Google Scholar
Hammarström, Harald, Robert Forkel, Martin Haspelmath & Sebastian Bank. 2025. Glottolog 5.2. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for evolutionary anthropology.Search in Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. James, Y.-H. Audrey Li & Yafei Li. 2009. The syntax of Chinese, 10. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Inglese, Giovanni. 2022. Cross-linguistic sources of anticausative markers. Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 2(2). 127–186. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2785-0943/14224.Search in Google Scholar
Kachru, Braj & Cecil Nelson. 2001. World englishes. In Anne Burns & Caroline Coffin (eds.), Analysing English in a global context, 123–135. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Keenan, Edward. 1985. Passive in the world’s languages. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, vol. 1: Clause structure, 243–281. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Keenan, Edward. 1987. Universal grammar (RLE Linguistics A: General Linguistics). London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Kenesei, István, Robert M. Vago & Ágnes Fenyvesi. 1998. Hungarian. New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Khalil, Aziz. 1988. The passive voice in English and classical Arabic: Formation, type and function. Bethlehem University Journal 7/8. 7–38.Search in Google Scholar
Khoshsirat, Zia. 2026. The unexpected passive suffix in Gilaki Foomanati. In Reza Falahati & Zahra Ghane (eds.), Handbook of phonetics and phonology of modern Iranian languages. Berlin: Springer.Search in Google Scholar
Levin, Beth & Malka Rappaport Hovav. 2005. Unaccusativity: At the syntax-lexical semantics interface. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar
Mallette, Karla. 2014. Lingua franca. In Peregrine Horden & Sharon Kinoshita (eds.), A companion to Mediterranean history, 330–344. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.10.1002/9781118519356.ch21Search in Google Scholar
Miller, Jim. 2008. An introduction to English syntax. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Minahan, James B. 2016. Encyclopaedia of stateless nations: Ethnic and national groups around the world. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood.10.5040/9798216018605Search in Google Scholar
Nasidze, I., D. Quinque, M. Rahmani, S. A. Alemohamad & M. Stoneking. 2006. Concomitant replacement of language and mtDNA in South Caspian populations of Iran. Current Biology: CB 16(7). 668–673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2006.02.021.Search in Google Scholar
Nelson, Gerald & Sidney Greenbaum. 2018. An introduction to English grammar. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315720319Search in Google Scholar
Nordquist, Richard. 2020. Definitions and examples of passivization in English. https://www.thoughtco.com/passivization-1691489 (accessed 25 September 2024).Search in Google Scholar
Pakpour, Padideh. 2015. Identity construction. The case of young women in Rasht. Uppsala University PhD Dissertation. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:845051/FULLTEXT01.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Rastorgueva, Vera Sergeevna, Aida A. Kerimova, A. K. Mamedzade, Ludmila A. Pireiko, Džoj Iosifovna Edel’man & R. M. Lockwood. 2012. The Gilaki language. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Available at: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-182789.Search in Google Scholar
Rostami Sammak, Mohaddese, Ali Darzi & Maryam Danaye Tousi. 2015. Sākht-e ghayr-shakhsi dar Gilaki-ye shahrestān-e Langarud [Impersonal construction in Gilaki, Langrud County]. Language Searches (Comparative Language and Literature Research) 6(34). 119–142.Search in Google Scholar
Rounds, Carol. 2009. Hungarian: An essential grammar. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203886199Search in Google Scholar
Saad, George N. 1974. Causatives and passives in Arabic. an-Nashra 7(1). 22–31.Search in Google Scholar
Shabani, Mansour. 2020. Tamayoz-e miān-e zabān o guyesh: Barresi-ye vaz’iyat-e guneh-ye Gilaki [The distinction between language and dialect: Exploring the state of Gilaki variety]. University of Alzahra Quarterly Journal of Linguistic Studies 12(37). 122–145. https://doi.org/10.22051/jlr.2020.28358.1787.Search in Google Scholar
Siewierska, Anna. 2013. Passive constructions. In Matthew Stuart Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The world Atlas of language structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. http://wals.info/chapter/107 (accessed 3 December 2022).Search in Google Scholar
Stilo, Donald. 2001. Gilan, X. Languages. In Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopædia Iranica, vol. X (Fisheries-Gindaros), 660–668. Bibliotheca Persica Press.Search in Google Scholar
Stilo, Donald L. 2015. An introduction to the Atlas of the Araxes-Iran linguistic area. In Bernard Comrie & Lucía Golluscio (eds.), Language contact and documentation/Contacto lingüístico y documentación, 343–356. Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.Search in Google Scholar
Stilo, Donald. 2018. The Caspian region and south Azerbaijan: Caspian and tatic. In Geoffrey Haig & Geoffrey Khan (eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of western Asia: An areal perspective, vol. 6. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.10.1515/9783110421682-019Search in Google Scholar
Suárez-Palma, Ignacio & Antonio Santamaría-Gallego. 2024. Noncore datives in Basque and Spanish impersonal, passive, and anticausative sentences. Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics 13(1). 29–55. https://doi.org/10.7557/1.13.1.7468.Search in Google Scholar
Tankó, Enikő. 2016. On the Hungarian equivalents of the English passive in literary translations. A case study on the translations of two novels. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica 8(2). 93–107. https://doi.org/10.1515/ausp-2016-0020.Search in Google Scholar
Tompa, József (ed.). 1961. A mai magyar nyelv rendszere [The System of Present-day Hungarian]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.Search in Google Scholar
Vahedi Langroudi, Mohammad Mahdi. 2007. Barresi-ye sākht-hā-ye ghayr-shakhsi (qālebi) dar chahār guneh-ye zabāni [A study of impersonal (template) constructions in four language varieties]. The Academy of Persian Language and Literature (Syntax) 2.Search in Google Scholar
Wang, Li. 2004. Hanyu shi gao 汉语史稿 [History of Mandarin]. Beijing: Zhonghua Chubanshe.Search in Google Scholar
Weiner, E. Judith & William Labov. 1983. Constraints on the agentless passive. Journal of Linguistics 19(1). 29–58. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226700007441.Search in Google Scholar
Xiao, Robert, Tony McEnery & Yufang Qian. 2006. Passive constructions in English and Chinese: A corpus-based contrastive study. Languages in Contrast 6(1). 109–149. https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.6.1.05xia.Search in Google Scholar
Yip, Po-ching & Danny Rimmington. 2006. Chinese: An essential grammar. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203969793Search in Google Scholar
Zamani Roodsari, Sedighe. 2023. Gilaki: From language regimes into minoritizing. Studies in Linguistics and Literature 7(1). https://doi.org/10.22158/sll.v7n1p41.Search in Google Scholar
Zhang, Liulin. 2018. The Chinese notional passive construction under the view of cognitive construction grammar. Acta Linguistica Asiatica 8(2). 83–110. https://doi.org/10.4312/ala.8.2.83-110.Search in Google Scholar
Zwicky, Arnold M. 1982. Stranded to and phonological phrasing in English. Linguistics 20(1–2). 3–58. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1982.20.1-2.33-58 Search in Google Scholar
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
