Cover not available

In:Historical Linguistics 2015: Selected papers from the 22nd International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Naples, 27-31 July 2015
Edited by Michela Cennamo and Claudia Fabrizio
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 348] 2019
► pp. 405–422

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 19
The sources of antipassive constructions

A cross-linguistic survey

 | University of Insubria, Como
Published online: 10 September 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.348.19san
Abstract
Antipassive constructions may be polysemous, with aspectual and modal functions other than patient demotion, and may differ with respect to the way agents and patients are coded. This paper explores the hypothesis that at least some of these differences can be explained by taking into account the diachronic sources of these constructions, which hold the key to some regularities. The sample includes the 48 languages with an antipassive in WALS (Polinsky 2013) + 50 languages in which an antipassive or a functionally equivalent construction is attested. These functionally equivalent constructions are generally not labelled as antipassives in grammatical descriptions, and alternative labels such as depatientive, deobjective, unspecified object construction, etc. are used. The diachronic sources of all these constructions are identified drawing on two kinds of evidence: (i) etymological reconstructions based on the comparative method; (ii) synchronic resemblance between (some features of) the source construction and (some features of) the target construction. Four main sources are found to be recurrent in the sample: (i) agent nominalizations; (ii) generic/indefinite elements filling the object position (e.g. person for animate objects, (some)thing for inanimate objects); (iii) action nominalizations, either alone or accompanied by a light verb like ‘do’ (≅ do the washing); (iv) morphemes encoding reflexive and/or reciprocal actions. For each of these sources, a diachronic scenario is sketched through which the antipassive construction might have developed out of the source.
Article outline
  • 1.Aim, methodology and sample
  • 2.The sources of APs
    • 2.1APs from agent nominalizations
    • 2.2APs from indefinite/generic elements in object position
    • 2.3APs from action/result nominalizations (±light verb ‘do’)
    • 2.4APs from reflexive/reciprocal constructions
    • 2.5Dubious cases
  • 3.Diachronic scenarios, persistence and explanations
  • 4.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
  • Appendix. The language sample
References (35)
References
Adamou, Evangelia. 2014. L’antipassif en ixcatèque. Bulletin de la société de linguistique de Paris 109:1. 373–396.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bostoen, Koen, Sebastian Dom & Guillaume Segerer. 2015. The antipassive in Bantu. Linguistics 53:4. 731–772. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bryant, Michael G. 1999. Aspects of Tirmaga grammar. PhD Dissertation. University of Texas at Arlington.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cooreman, Ann. 1994. A functional typology of antipassives. In Paul J. Hopper & Barbara A. Fox (eds.), Voice: Form and function, 49–88. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Creissels, Denis. 2014. Reconstructing the history of the Soninke voice system. Paper presented at the workshop Voice systems in diachrony: a comparative perspective, Pavia (Italy), September 11, 2014.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Creissels, Denis & Sylvie Voisin-Nouguier. 2008. Valency-changing operations in Wolof and the notion of co-participation. In Ekkehard König & Volker Gast (eds.), Reciprocals and reflexives: Theoretical and typological explorations, 293–309. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cumberland, Linda A. 2005. A grammar of Assiniboine: A Siouan language of the Northern Plains. PhD Dissertation. Indiana University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dayley, Jon P. 1983. Voice and ergativity in Mayan languages. In Alice Schlichter, Wallace L. Chafe & Leanne Hinton (eds.), Studies in Meso-American linguistics, 5–119. University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M. W. 1977. A grammar of Yidiny. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M. W. & Alexandra Aikhenvald. 2000. Introduction. In Robert M. W. Dixon & Alexandra Aikhenvald (eds.), Changing Valency. Case studies in transitivity, 1–29. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doornenbal, Marius. 2009. A grammar of Bantawa. Grammar, paradigm tables, glossary and texts of a Rai language of Eastern Nepal. Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dryer, Matthew S. & Martin Haspelmath (eds.). 2013. The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology. ([URL])Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dunn, Michael John. 1999. A Grammar of Chukchi. PhD Dissertation, Australian National University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Edmonson, Barbara W. 1988. A descriptive grammar of Huastec (Potosino dialect). PhD Dissertation. Tulane University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Epps, Patience. 2005. A grammar of Hup. PhD Dissertation. University of Virginia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Galloway, Brent D. 1977. A grammar of Chilliwack Halkomelem. PhD Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy. 1981. Typology and functional domains. Studies in Language 5. 163–193. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 1990. The grammaticization of passive morphology. Studies in Language 14. 25–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd & Tania Kuteva. 2002. World Lexicon of Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huber, Juliette. 2011. A grammar of Makalero. A Papuan language of East Timor. Utrecht: LOT.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jacques, Guillaume. 2014. Denominal affixes as sources of antipassive markers in Japhug Rgyalrong. Lingua 138. 1–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Janic, Katarzyna. 2015. On the reflexive-antipassive polysemy: Typological convergence from unrelated languages. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 6–7 February 2010, Berkeley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. Etude translinguistique de l’emploi antipassif de formes moyennes: étude comparative des langues slaves et des langues romanes. Doctoral dissertation, Université Lyon 2.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kimball, Geoffrey D. 1985. A descriptive grammar of Koasati. PhD Dissertation. Tulane University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kozinsky, Isaac. Š., Vladimir P. Nedjalkov & Maria S. Polinskaja. 1988. Antipassive in Chukchee: oblique object, object incorporation, zero object. In Masayoshi Shibatani (ed.), Passive and Voice, 651–706. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lichtenberk, Frantisek. 2000. Reciprocals without reflexives. In Zygmunt Frajzyngier & Traci S. Curl (eds.), Reciprocals: Forms and functions, 30–62. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
MacKay, Carolyn J. 1999. A grammar of Misantla Totonac. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oliverio, Giulia R. M. 1996. A grammar and dictionary of Tutelo. PhD Dissertation. University of Kansas.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Polinsky, Maria. 2013. Antipassive Constructions. In Dryer & Haspelmath. ([URL]).
Siewierska, Anna. 2013. Passive Constructions. In Dryer & Haspelmath. ([URL]).
Smythe Kung, Susan. 2007. A descriptive grammar of Huehuetla Tepehua. PhD Dissertation. The University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Terrill, Angela. 1997. The development of antipassive constructions in Australian languages. Australian Journal of Linguistics 17. 71–88. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thompson, Chad. 1996. The Na-Dene middle voice: An impersonal source of the d-element. International Journal of American Linguistics 62:4. 351–378. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van de Velde, Mark L. O. 2008. A grammar of Eton. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watters, James K. 1988. Topics in Tepehua Grammar. PhD Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Fabrizio, Claudia
2025. Alignment and Subjecthood in Latin, DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue