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Universal 434: full passive ⇒ reduced passive;
¬ reduced passive ⇒ ¬ passive

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 434: full passive ⇒ reduced passive;
¬ reduced passive ⇒ ¬ passive

Original
If a language has full passives, it also has the reduced form; and if a language has no reduced passive, it has no passive at all.
Standardized
IF there is full passive, THEN there is also reduced passive.
IF there is no reduced passive, THEN there is no passive at all.
Keywords
diathesis, passive
Domain
syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
English (W. Germanic), French (Italic), Modern Greek (Greek), Persian (Iranian), Serbo-Croatian (Slavic, all IE), Finnish (Finnic, Uralic), Hungarian (Ugric, Uralic), Arabic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Igbo (Benue-Congo, Niger-Congo)
Source
Eckman 1974: 63
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1.The term full passive refers to passive type sentences where the agent is overtly expressed; and “reduced passive” refers to passive sentences where no agent is explicitly expressed. 2. It is claimed that the full passive is derived from a structure containing the reduced passive, rather than the reverse, as has also been assumed (cf. Indefinite Agent Deletion theory). (e.g. no easy-to-please constructions; no tough movement) Cf. #1116. 3. Cf. #305.

    1. May 2020

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