A comparative typological analysis of passivisation and functional alternatives: Keenan’s passive universals in Eshkevari Gilaki (EG), Hungarian, and lingua franca languages
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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.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Informed consent: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: The author has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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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.
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Conflict of interest: The author states no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Data availability: Not applicable.
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