LSTL 39: Studies in voice and transitivity (Estudios de voz y transitividad)

Studies in voice and transitivity (Estudios de voz y transitividad)

edited by

Zarina Estrada Fernández (University of Sonora)
Søren Wichmann (MPI-EVA & Leiden University)
Claudine Chamoreau (CELIA-CNRS)
& Albert Álvarez González (University of Sonora)

In this collection of papers the phenomenon of voice is addressed both synchronically and diachronically, and both typological (or areal) perspectives as well as studies of individual languages are represented. The majority of contributions in the latter category discuss Uto-Aztecan languages, but treatments of other languages, such as Purépecha and Mapuche, are also included.

Although all authors share an over-all functional perspective, different approaches nevertheless emerge. For instance, among the typological papers, one views the passive construction through a prototype approach (Comrie); another characterizes the passive as a family of constructions that have different diachronic origins, whose footprints are often still discernible but which are nevertheless united by common functional motivations (Givón); a third approach defines a canonical type of passive with the aim of explaining the consistent absence of this particular type in so-called ‘active’ languages (Wichmann). Some major themes in the individual language studies are patterns of grammaticalization and issues of iconicity. A conclusion that cross-cuts the entire volume is that insights into constructions involving valency change are best achieved through both detailed descriptive work spanning the lexical and syntactic domains as well as through a view to historical developments; in short, a panchronic approach is recommended.

Table of contents

Introduction

General

What is a Passive?
BERNARD COMRIE

On the relational properties of passive clauses: A diachronic perspective
T. GIVÓN

Valency-reduction in event-oriented languages
SØREN WICHMANN

Case studies in Uto-Aztecan and other languages

Participios estativos en yaqui y mecanismos de detransitivización
ALBERT ÁLVAREZ GONZÁLEZ

Antipasivas en español. Forma y función
SERGIO BOGARD

Derivación causativa en toba
MARISA CENSABELLA

Looking for a new participant. The Purepecha passive
CLAUDINE CHAMOREAU

Causatives and applicatives in Pima Bajo:
The interplay of the causative and the applicative in sociative causation
ZARINA ESTRADA FERNÁNDEZ

The passive in the Taracahitic languages Yaqui, Warihio and Tarahumara
ROLANDO FÉLIX ARMENDÁRIZ

La voz media en la lengua mapuche
ANA FERNÁNDEZ GARAY

Yaqui causation: its form-function interface
LILIÁN GUERRERO

Index of languages and language families
Index of authors
Index of subjects

ISBN 9783895861000 (Hardcover). LINCOM Studies in Theoretical Linguistics 39. 246pp. 2007.