In a transformation from an active-voice clause to an equivalent passive-voice construction, the subject and the direct object switch grammatical roles.
The antipassive voice deletes or demotes the object of transitive verbs, and promotes the actor to an intransitive subject.
Their agreement system will be sensitive to an external person or animacy hierarchy (or a combination of both): 1 > 2 > 3 or Anim > Inan and so forth.
E.g., in Meskwaki (an Algonquian language), verbs inflect for both subject and object, but agreement markers do not have inherent values for these.
[17] For example, this sentence using active voice: (The first line is in Traditional Chinese while the second is Simplified Chinese) 一條一条Yī-tiáoΑ狗狗gǒudog咬了咬了yǎo-lebite-PRF這個这个zhègethis男人。男人。nánrén.man一條 狗 咬了 這個 男人。一条 狗 咬了 这个 男人。Yī-tiáo gǒu yǎo-le zhège nánrén.Α dog bite-PRF this man"A dog has bitten this man.
(suffix)這個 男人 是 被 狗 咬 的。这个 男人 是 被 狗 咬 的。Zhège nánrén shì bèi gǒu yǎo de.This man {to be} PASS dog bite {(suffix)}"This man has been bitten by a dog.
"Mandarin also has an object-retaining passive which contains both the object and the topic (mostly the possessor of the object): 他他tāHe被被bèiPASS小偷小偷xiǎotouthief偷了偷了tōu-lesteal-PRF錢包。钱包。qiánbāo.wallet他 被 小偷 偷了 錢包。他 被 小偷 偷了 钱包。tā bèi xiǎotou tōu-le qiánbāo.He PASS thief steal-PRF wallet"His wallet was stolen by a thief.
They discovered that passive voice in Mandarin is heavily dependent on the context of the sentence rather than the grammatical forms.
To some extent, his theory was also supported by Yip et al. (2016), where they also proposed three different forms of passive Mandarin.
Ting's claims were based on his investigation of post-verbal overt pronominal object, locality of selection, occurrence of the particle suo(所) in Bei construction, and the intervention of adverbs within the Bei-V compound (= co-verb).
He believed that Bei construction is presented in three types, two of them have different selectional properties, and the other one is lexically derived as Bei-V compound.
Here is an example of formal passive: 问题WentiProblem终zhongfinally被beiPASS解决。jiejue.solve.问题 终 被 解决。Wenti zhong bei jiejue.Problem finally PASS solve.
'(These are adapted from Yip et al. (2016) Chapter 13, p. 253) Although the most common formal passive marker is “bei”, it can also be replaced by rang让, jiao教, gei给, etc.
Here is an example of lexical passive: 问题WentiProblem得到dedaoreceive了lePRF解决。jiejue.solution.问题 得到 了 解决。Wenti dedao le jiejue.Problem receive PRF solution.
However, Li et al. (1981), when arguing against Chao's analysis of Mandarin, stated that there is a distinct class of middle voice verbs.
Later, Li et al. (1981) introduced middle voice sentences as examples of topic/comment constructions which lacks an overt subject.
'(Adapted from Li et al. (1981)) We can see from this example that the characteristic of a topic/comment construction in its implication of a dropped anaphor indicates an agent.
While Ting (2006) compared between middles and Ba constructions (= active voice) involving intransitive V-de (得) resultatives.
[25] Active SOV sentence example: ボートbōtoboatが-ga-NOM漁師ryōshifishermanを-o-ACC運んだ。hakonda.carried-ACT.ボート が 漁師 を 運んだ。bōto -ga ryōshi -o hakonda.boat -NOM fisherman -ACC carried-ACT.
"僕BokuIはwaTOPIC彼女kanojoherにniAGENT嘘usolieをoOBJECTつかれた。tsukareta.tell-PASSIVE-PAST.僕 は 彼女 に 嘘 を つかれた。Boku wa kanojo ni uso o tsukareta.I TOPIC her AGENT lie OBJECT tell-PASSIVE-PAST.
In possessive passives, the grammatical subject stands in a canonical possessive relation with the direct object and in gapless passives they appear to lack an active counterpart and contain an extra argument is realized as the grammatical subject that is unlicensed by the main verb.
'Internal direct passive sentence: [Paul ga [George ga Paul wo wagamama dato hinansuru] are ta] 2) Indirect passive Paul-waPaul-FOCJohn-niJohn-toshin-are-tadie-PASS-PSTPaul-wa John-ni shin-are-taPaul-FOC John-to die-PASS-PST'Paul was adversely affected by John's death.
[citation needed] The non-uniform theory argues that direct and indirect passives in Japanese should be treated differently.
'In non-uniform theory -(r)are is not contained within the underlying structure so in this sentence is the result of a subject object shift.
[34] In both Finnish and Estonian, the use of the impersonal voice generally implies that the agent is capable of own initiative [citation needed].
Celtic languages have an inflection commonly called the "impersonal" or "autonomous" form,[35] of similar origin[citation needed] to the Latin "passive-impersonal".
However, what is called in Irish an briathar saor or the free verb does not suggest passivity but a kind of generalized agency.
The construction has equal validity in transitive and intransitive clauses, and the best translation into English is normally by using the "dummy" subjects "they", "one", or impersonal "you".
For example, the common sign against tobacco consumption has its closest direct translation in English as "No smoking": NáDon'tcaitearuse-IMPERSONALtabactobacco.Ná caitear tabacDon't use-IMPERSONAL tobacco.An example of its use as an intransitive is: TéithearGo-IMPERSONALgo dtítoan sráidbhailethe villagego minicoftenDé SathairnSaturdayTéithear {go dtí} {an sráidbhaile} {go minic} {Dé Sathairn}Go-IMPERSONAL to {the village} often Saturday"People often go to the village of a Saturday.
"In English, the formation of the passive allows the optional inclusion of an agent in a prepositional phrase, "by the man", etc.