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Universal 304: three-member passive ⇒ two-member passive

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 304: three-member passive ⇒ two-member passive

Original
If there is a three-member passive construction, then there will be a two-member passive construction, derived from the three-member construction by simple omission of the indirect object.
Standardized
IF there is a three-member passive construction, THEN there will be a two-member passive construction, derived from the three-member construction by simple omission of the agent in an oblique object relation.
Keywords
diathesis, passive, oblique object
Domain
syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic but presumably diachronically motivated
Quality
absolute
Basis
languages surveyed in Kozinsky 1981
Source
first mentioned by Kurylowicz 1946: 388, Kozinsky 1981
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. Kurylowicz 1946: 388: “In no language passive is used in three-member constructions only”.2. The history of European languages reveals that three-member passive constructions arise later than two-member ones. Probably there is a genetic derivational hierarchy: primary active construction => two-member passive construction => three-member passive construction. This means that two-member passive constrictions should not be considered as reduced variants of three-member constructions (Xrakovskij 1974: 28). 3. Cf. #435 for a similar statement by Eckman, who calls three-member passives “full” and two-member passives “reduced”.

    1. May 2020

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