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In:Voice and Argument Structure in Baltic
Edited by Axel Holvoet and Nicole Nau
[Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic 2] 2015
► pp. 289–322

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Passivization and argument structure in Lithuanian

Published online: 5 August 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/vargreb.2.06and
I examine the connection between internal case marking, telicity and the ability of a verb to passivize in Lithuanian. Crucially, oblique passivization – verbs which take a case other than accusative, yet form agreeing passive participles – is observed, and raises questions of case preservation. Because not all oblique-case verbs allow passivization, I examine the standard approach to case theory, and, following Babby (1994) and Woolford (2006), propose that instances non-structural case can be further distinguished as either lexical and inherent case. Additionally, oblique passives are overwhelmingly found to be instances of actional, rather than statal, passives. Statal passives denote an object-oriented result, and thus a connection between telicity and accusative case is found, following similar conclusions for Slavic in Richardson (2007).
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