The Category of Voice a grammatical category

The Category of Voice • a grammatical category: denotes grammatical ways of expressing relations between a verb and its subject and object

The Category of Voice: Debated problems 1. the nature of the category 2. the starting point of analysis (meanings or forms) 3. the problem of transitivity 4. the nature of the construction be + Participle II 5. the number of voices 6. the limits of the passive (auxiliaries) 7. the paradigmatic meanings of the active and of the passive voice forms

1. Voice: The nature of the category • a syntactic category (H. Paul, A. Potebnya); • a morphologico-syntactic category: denotes the syntactic relation of an action to its subject and object by a system of morphological forms; • a purely morphological category (A. Smirnitsky, B. Ilyish, M. Blokh)

2. Voice: The Starting Point of Analysis • meanings or forms • external signs can express different meanings

2. Voice: The Starting Point of Analysis • • An active voice form: He shaved the customer ( activity) He shaved and went out ( reflexivity) I opened the door (activity) The door opened ( mediopassivity) They kissed ( reciprocality) I suffered a blow (passivity)

3. Voice: The Problem of Transitivity • the potential capacity of a verb to demand an object • obscure nature: a grammatical or a lexical category

3. Voice: The Problem of Transitivity VERBS Transitives Intransitives !But: E. g. Why don’t you walk me home? I’d like you to dance me. You danced me splendidly.

4. Voice: The nature of the Construction to be + Participle II • ambiguous 1. a passive structure only when it expresses an action • analyzed as a simple verbal predicate • A. I. Smirnitsky: each occurrence

The Category of Voice 4. the nature of the construction to be + Participle II 2. a state • interpreted as a compound nominal predicate E. g. The door is opened. ( a state) The door is being opened. (an action)

5. Voice: The number of voices 1. the active; 2. the passive;

5. Voice: The number of voices 3. the reflective voice E. g. He washed himself. 4. the medio-passive (middle) voice E. g. The door opened. The coat wears well. The coffee tastes well. The book sells like hotcakes. Denotes the processes going on within the subject without affecting any object; 5. the reciprocal voice E. g. They hate one another. They hugged each other.

5. Voice: The number of voices 1. Morphologically, resemble the active voice form 2. The elements “-self, -each other, -one another” cannot be interpreted as auxiliaries of these “voices” 3. Omissible - nonomissible 4. The heading of the active voice

6. Voice: The Limits of the Passive (auxiliaries) • to be is not the only auxiliary + to get, to become, to have, to go, to come E. g. He got married. He came to be respected. I had my horse killed under me in the battle. He went missing. The house got burnt. • The subject in these sentences experiences some action

6. Voice: The Limits of the Passive (auxiliaries) • V. Mathesius: the verb to suffer the constructions to be subject to to be in preparation • the subject neither performs nor initiates an action

6. Voice: The Limits of the Passive (auxiliaries) ! to get: • an active auxiliary in American English: E. g. The work has got done.

6. Voice: The Limits of the Passive (auxiliaries) The prevalent view: voice is a verbal category based on the opposition of the active and the passive forms

The Category of Voice 6. the limits of the passive • a number of different forms representing aspect, tense, mood, correlation: E. g. read : : is read wrote: : was written is writing: : is being written would write: : would be written

Voice: Communicative organization (V. Mathesius) • 3 elements in a sentence: - the performer of an action; - the action itself; - the goal of an action (the person or thing affected by the action) • placed in different perspectives: the active and the passive

Voice: Communicative organization (V. Mathesius) • A sentence has an active perspective if the action starts with the performer with respect to the goal E. g. I wrote a letter. • A sentence has a passive perspective if we start with the goal with respect to the performer E. g. The letter has been written by him.

Voice: Communicative organization • The Passive: the device 1. the semantic object to perform thematic function 2. the semantic subject to perform the rhematic function E. g. The book was given to him by Jane • the book is the semantic object • Jane is the semantic subject

Voice: Communicative organization • Actives and passives: not interchangeable • different communicative purposes • Actives rhematize logical objects • Passives rhematize logical subjects • not all actives can be passivized and vv E. g. No love was lost between them.

Passive Voice: The Character of the Agent (4) • with an explicit agent E. g. It is when men are ruled by women. • with a non-existent agent E. g. He was lost in reverie. • with an implicit agent which is easily restorable E. g. Woman was made while Adam slept.

Passive Voice: The Character of the Agent • missing agents: - unknown or - of generic reference: E. g. Dostoevsky is commonly regarded as a prophetic writer.

The Category of Voice The formations He is arrived. He is gone. I am finished. • not passives • perfect forms of intransitive verbs ! in Shakespeare’s time

The Category of Voice • In modern English: stylistically marked E. g. When she opened the door he was gone! (the ring of finality, eventuality) ! In American English

The Use of The Passive Voice (6) ! the functional sentence perspective: to rhematize the logical subject E. g. The letter has been written by me.

The Use of The Passive Voice ! scientific writings • impersonal presentation of the subject matter

The Use of The Passive Voice • The vagueness of the agent in any functional style: E. g. Good things which have long been enjoyed are not easily given up.

The Use of The Passive Voice • Intentional avoidance of the agent: e. g. The game was resumed. Glasses were refilled. Pipes were lit. (N. V. Gogol)

The Use of The Passive Voice • In horror fiction: to create the effect of suspense: e. g. A murder will shortly be committed here.

The Use of The Passive Voice • A marker of the sphere of the subconscious: E. g. He was given to that kind of thing.