If a language provides intransitive verbs that take patients as their theme (as in English ‘These wine glasses break easily, so be careful with them’), these will normally be used for the description of spontaneous events. But if there is no such intransitive verb, then the agent-defocusing forms will be used (‘These boys are/get discouraged easily, so be careful with them’).
Standardized
IF there are intransitive verbs that take patients as their theme, THEN these will normally be used for the description of spontaneous events. IF there are no such intransitive verbs, THEN agent-defocusing forms will be used for this purpose.
Keywords
defocusing, intransitive verb, patient, agent
Domain
syntax, semantics
Type
no genuine implication; rather: provided that
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
a range of Indo-European, American Indian and Altaic languages
Shibatani 1985: 837: prototypical passive constructions have the following features: a) Primary pragmatic function: defocusing of agent; b) Semantic properties: (i) Semantic valence: Predicate (agent, patient); (ii) Subject is affected; c) Syntactic properties: (i) Syntactic encoding: agent => Ø (not encoded), patient => subject; (ii) Valence of Predicate: Active = P/n, Passive = P/n-1; d) Morphological property: Active = P, Passive = P [+ passive].
Shibatani 1985: 837: prototypical passive constructions have the following features: a) Primary pragmatic function: defocusing of agent; b) Semantic properties: (i) Semantic valence: Predicate (agent, patient); (ii) Subject is affected; c) Syntactic properties: (i) Syntactic encoding: agent => Ø (not encoded), patient => subject; (ii) Valence of Predicate: Active = P/n, Passive = P/n-1; d) Morphological property: Active = P, Passive = P [+ passive].