Cover not available

Article published In: Studies in Language
Vol. 50:1 (2026) ► pp.233–257

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

The passive construction and participant identification in Cuntou Tuhua

ORCiD logo with link | Beijing Normal University | Nanyang Technological University
Published online: 11 December 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.25001.hua
Abstract
Cuntou Tuhua, an undocumented Tuhua variety within the Sinitic languages spoken in northern Guangdong, exhibits three types of passive constructions. The la-construction and the piau-construction have developed internally from transitive constructions involving actions of taking and giving, and are typically used to express negative events, with the agent obligatorily present. In contrast, the phai-construction is a borrowed form from Mandarin, used exclusively for positive events and requiring the omission of the agent. The grammaticalization of the la-construction and the piau-construction indicates that they represent a strategy of topicalization. These passive constructions also serve a distinct participant-identification function, arising from the conventionalization of the construction, including determining participant roles and tracking referents in discourse.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The issues of the “passive” in Sinitic languages
  • 3.The passive construction in Cuntou Tuhua
    • 3.1Three forms of Cuntou Tuhua Passive Construction
    • 3.2An explanation for the presence or omission of the agent
  • 4.Rethinking the facts of “passive constructions”
    • 4.1The grammaticalization pathway of passive constructions
    • 4.2The function of participant identification in passive constructions
  • 5.Passive constructions and detached topic constructions
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (23)
References
Chao, Yuen Ren. 2011[1968]. A grammar of spoken Chinese. Beijing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chappell, Hilary M. 1983. A semantic analysis of passive, causative and dative constructions in Standard Chinese. Canberra: Australian National University Ph.D. dissertation.
1986. The passive of bodily effect in Chinese. Studies in Language 10(2). 271–296. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2015. Linguistic areas in China for differential object marking, passive, and comparative constructions. In Hilary M. Chappell (ed.), Diversity in Sinitic languages, 13–52. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chow, Pui Lun. 2018. The malefactive topic role in Cantonese indirect passives. In Miriam Butt & Tracy Holloway King (eds.), Proceedings of the LFG’18 Conference, University of Vienna, 191–207. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, William. 2001. Radical Construction Grammar: Syntactic theory in typological perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2022. Morphosyntax: Constructions of the world’s languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dixon, R. M. W. 2012. Basic Linguistic Theory: Volume 3 Further grammatical topics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hashimoto, Mantaro J. 1988. The structure and typology of the Chinese passive construction. In Masayoshi Shibatani (ed.), Passive and voice, 329–354. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 1990. The Grammaticization of passive morphology. Studies in Language 131. 25–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences & Language Information Sciences Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong (eds.). 2012. Zhongguo Yuyan Dituji (Di 2 Ban): Hanyu Fangyan Juan [Language atlas of China (2nd edn): Chinese dialects volume]. Beijing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keenan, Edward L. & Matthew S. Dryer. 2007. Passive in the world’s languages. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, 325–361. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
LaPolla, Randy J. 1988. Topicalization and the question of lexical passives in Chinese. Paper presented at the Third Annual Conference on Chinese Linguistics, Ohio State University, 13–14 May. Available at: [URL] (last access 27 April 2025)
2013. Arguments for a construction-based approach to the analysis of Chinese. In Tseng Chiu-yu (ed.), Human language resources and linguistic typology: Papers from the Fourth International Conference on Sinology, 33–57. Taiwan: Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Charles N. & Sandra A. Thompson. 1976. Subject and topic: A new typology of language. In Charles N. Li (ed.), Subject and topic, 457–489. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1981. Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Dongxiang & Chusheng Zhuang. 2009. Shaoguan Tuhua Diaocha Yanjiu [A survey and study of Shaoguan Tuhua]. Guangzhou: Jinan University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pan, Haihua & Xiaoshi Hu. 2021. The passive construction in Chinese. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia, 1–29. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shibatani, Masayoshi. 1985. Passives and related constructions: A prototype analysis. Language 61 (4). 821–848. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Siewierska, Anna. 2024 [1984]. The passive: A comparative linguistic analysis. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Valin, Robert D. Jr. & Randy J. LaPolla. 1997. Syntax: Structure, meaning and function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhou, Chenlei. 2013. Hanyu Beidongju de Shishituxian Ji Qi Leixingxue Yiyi [Agent-prominence in Chinese passive and its typological significance]. Wuhan: Central China Normal University MA thesis.
. 2016. Cong Hanyu Fangyan Beidongju Shishi Bixian Kan Xingshi Kuzang Dui Yuyi Fanchou De Zhiyue [On the restriction of form to meaning from the perspective of agent in passives in Chinese dialects], Yuyan Yanjiu [Studies in Language and Linguistics] 36(1). 59–66.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue