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Article published In: Diachronica
Vol. 40:2 (2023) ► pp.195–237

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The rise of middle voice systems

A study in diachronic typology

ORCiD logo with link | Università di Torino
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Published online: 19 January 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.20058.ing
Abstract
Middle markers are characterized by a distribution halfway between grammar and the lexicon: with some verbs, middle marking encodes valency change, while with others it obligatorily occurs with no obvious synchronic motivation. Despite the existing cross-linguistic work on middle markers, their history is still largely unknown. In the typological literature, the standard view is that middle markers predominantly have their origin in reflexive markers, and that, in their development, it is invariantly the grammatical component that expands to the lexical component. In this paper, I challenge these assumptions based on the analysis of a sample of 129 middle marking languages. As I show, the sources and pathways whereby middle markers come about are much more numerous and varied than what has been reported in the literature. By taking a source-oriented approach, I also discuss how recurrent cross-linguistic trends in the distribution of middle markers can in part be explained by looking at their history.
Résumé
Les marqueurs de la voie moyenne se caractérisent par une distribution à mi-chemin entre la grammaire et le lexique : avec certains verbes, le marqueur de la voie moyenne indique un changement de valence, tandis qu’avec d’autres, ils se produisent obligatoirement sans motivation synchronique apparente. Malgré les travaux de nature comparative qui existent sur les marqueurs de la voie moyenne, leur histoire demeure encore mal connue. Dans la littérature typologique, l’avis général est que les marqueurs moyens proviennent principalement de marqueurs réflexifs, et que, dans leur développement, c’est invariablement la composante grammaticale qui s’étend à la composante lexicale. Dans cet article, je remets en question ces hypothèses en me basant sur l’analyse d’un échantillon de 129 langues qui présentent des marqueurs de la voie moyenne. Comme je le montre, les sources et les voies par lesquelles ces marqueurs apparaissent sont beaucoup plus nombreuses et variées que ce qui est rapporté dans la littérature. En adoptant une approche orientée vers les sources, je discute également de la manière dont les tendances récurrentes (dans toutes les langues examinées) dans la distribution des marqueurs de la voie moyenne peuvent s’expliquer en partie en examinant leur histoire.
Zusammenfassung
Die Medialmarkierung zeichnet sich durch eine Verteilung auf halbem Weg zwischen Grammatik und Lexikon aus. Bei einigen Verben kodiert die Medialmarkierung einen Valenzwechsel, während sie bei anderen obligatorisch und ohne offensichtliche synchrone Motivation auftritt. Trotz der vorhandenen typologischen Arbeiten über Medialmarkierung ist noch wenig über ihre Geschichte bekannt. In der typologischen Literatur herrscht die Ansicht vor, dass Medialmarkierung überwiegend aus reflexiven Markern hervorgeht und dass sich in ihrer Entwicklung stets die grammatische Komponente zur lexikalischen ausweitet. In diesem Beitrag stelle ich diese Annahmen auf der Grundlage der Analyse einer Stichprobe von 129 Sprachen mit Medialmarkierung in Frage. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Quellen und Wege, bei denen Medialmarkierung entstehen, viel zahlreicher und vielfältiger sind, als sie in der Literatur beschrieben werden. Von einem quellenorientierten Ansatz ausgehend erörtere ich auch, wie wiederkehrende typologische Trends in der Verteilung von Medialmarkierung zum Teil aus ihrer Geschichte erklärt werden können.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Towards a comparative concept of middle marker
  • 3.The diachrony of valency reducing markers
  • 4.The diachrony of MVSs in a cross-linguistic perspective
    • 4.1Sources of MMs
      • 4.1.1MMs from reflexives
      • 4.1.2MMs from valency changing markers
      • 4.1.3MMs from lexical verbs (and spatial elements)
      • 4.1.4MMs from other sources
        • 4.1.4.1MMs from markers of uncontrolled events
        • 4.1.4.2MMs from markers of plurality
        • 4.1.4.3MMs from nominalizers and verbalizers
        • 4.1.4.4MMs from aspectual-like markers
      • 4.1.5MMs from multiple sources
    • 4.2Oppositional and non-oppositional middles in diachrony
      • 4.2.1Oppositional > non-oppositional
      • 4.2.2Non-oppositional > oppositional
      • 4.2.3The emergence of MVSs: A third way?
  • 5.MVSs and language contact
  • 6.The typology of MVSs: Weighing the diachronic evidence
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (166)
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2024. Transitivity, Valency, and Voice, DOI logo
Giomi, Riccardo & Guglielmo Inglese
2024. Underspecification and ambiguity of voice markers. In Vagueness, Ambiguity, and All the Rest [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 347], ► pp. 110 ff. DOI logo
Zimmermann, Richard
2024. How fear developed from an object to a subject experiencer verb. Journal of Historical Linguistics DOI logo
de Benito Moreno, Carlota
2023. From (semi-)oppositional to non-oppositional middles: the case of Spanishreír(se). STUF - Language Typology and Universals 76:2 ► pp. 121 ff. DOI logo
Inglese, Guglielmo & Andrea Sansò
2023. Introduction: towards a diachronic typology of the middle voice. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 76:2 ► pp. 113 ff. DOI logo
Inglese, Guglielmo & Jean-Christophe Verstraete
2023. Evidence against unidirectionality in the emergence of middle voice systems. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 76:2 ► pp. 235 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. The Middle Voice and Connected Constructions in Ibero-Romance [Studies in Language Variation, 29], DOI logo

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