6533b836fe1ef96bd12a12e3
RESEARCH PRODUCT
The grammaticalization of passives
Björn Wiemersubject
HistoryGrammaticalizationLinguisticsdescription
Abstract This article examines the grammaticalisation of the linguistic category of passives. It explains that the notion ‘passive’ comprises morphologically marked devices by which the highest-ranking or single argument of a predicate is syntactically demoted, while a lower-ranking argument can be promoted to a syntactically privileged position. It describes the diachronic relation between the foregrounding and backgrounding passives.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-09-18 |