Universal #1532

Legacy number: 1532

 Number  1528
 Original  All subject-final languages have passive forms of verbs (ones in which the object of the active verb functions as the subject).
 Standardized  IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there will be passive forms of verbs.
 Formula  OS ⇒ passive
 Keywords  order, subject, object, diathesis, passive
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  Malagasy, Batak [Toba Dialect], Fijian, Gilbertese (all Malayo-Polynesian), Tzeltal (Mayan), Otomi (Oto-Manguean), Ineseño Chumash (Hokan), Baure (Arawakan), Tzotzil, Kekchi (both Mayan), Tsou (Formosan, Austronesian), although the last three languages are not surveyed in the paper
 Source  Keenan 1978b: 300, G-18

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Discussion
Notes
1. By SUBJECT-FINAL languages Keenan means any language in which full noun phrase subjects must follow noun phrase direct objects in the pragmatically less marked sentence types (which contain both subjects and direct objects) of the language. Sentences which are pragmatically less marked place the fewest restrictions on their contexts of appropriate use. 2. By PASSIVE Keenan understands verb forms in which the object of the active verb functions as the subject. 3a. According to Keenan (#1516), subject-final languages are always verb-initial. This means that Keenan’s claims about subject-final languages can be applied to VOS languages as well. 3b. Cf. a more general claim about verb-initial languages (#1563): Verb-initial languages always have a passive voice and it is almost always marked in the verbal morphology.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. By SUBJECT-FINAL languages Keenan means any language in which full noun phrase subjects must follow noun phrase direct objects in the PRAGMATICALLY LESS MARKED sentence types (which contain both subjects and direct objects) of the language. Sentences which are pragmatically less marked place the fewest restrictions on their contexts of appropriate use.

2. By PASSIVE Keenan understands verb forms in which the object of the active verb functions as the subject.

3a. According to Keenan (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1516"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">), subject-final languages are always verb-initial. This means that Keenan's claims about subject-final languages can be applied to VOS languages as well.

3b. Cf. a more general claim about verb-initial languages (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1563"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">): Verb-initial languages always have a passive voice and it is almost always marked in the verbal morphology.