{"title":"Voice in Turkish: Re-thinking u-syncretism","authors":"Greg Key","doi":"10.1007/s11049-024-09614-8","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><i>U</i>-syncretism is the identical morphological marking of the passive and other verbal categories that have reduced syntactic valency, including the anticausative and verbal reflexive (Embick 2004). Nonactive morphology in Greek exhibits <i>u</i>-syncretism, while English and German have dedicated passive morphology. An influential body of literature holds that <i>u</i>-syncretism is the hallmark of a middle or nonactive Voice structure, which has a range of interpretations, while its absence is symptomatic of a canonical passive (Alexiadou and Doron 2012; Alexiadou et al. 2015; Spathas et al. 2015; Schäfer 2017; a.o.). The Turkish passive suffix also marks anticausatives and some verbal reflexives (Gündoğdu 2017). Nevertheless, the present paper argues that Turkish has a canonical passive that is morphosyntactically distinct from nonactive/middle Voice. <i>U</i>-syncretism is found only with verb stems that lack transitive marking. With stems that take an overt marker of transitivity—a causative suffix or an active light verb—the passive suffix is rigidly passive in interpretation, licensing a <i>by</i> phrase but not a <i>by-itself</i> or causer phrase in the case of alternating change-of-state verbs, and rejecting a reflexive reading even with a naturally reflexive verb. I conclude that the Turkish passive is derived with a transitive verb stem, while the anticausative and reflexive are derived with intransitive stems. <i>U</i>-syncretism arises only where transitive marking is null, and therefore, I argue, reflects a morphosyntactic ambiguity rather than different interpretations of the nonactive/middle Voice construction. This paper thus shows that a canonical passive can exhibit surface <i>u</i>-syncretism.</p>","PeriodicalId":18975,"journal":{"name":"Natural Language & Linguistic Theory","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Natural Language & Linguistic Theory","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-024-09614-8","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
U-syncretism is the identical morphological marking of the passive and other verbal categories that have reduced syntactic valency, including the anticausative and verbal reflexive (Embick 2004). Nonactive morphology in Greek exhibits u-syncretism, while English and German have dedicated passive morphology. An influential body of literature holds that u-syncretism is the hallmark of a middle or nonactive Voice structure, which has a range of interpretations, while its absence is symptomatic of a canonical passive (Alexiadou and Doron 2012; Alexiadou et al. 2015; Spathas et al. 2015; Schäfer 2017; a.o.). The Turkish passive suffix also marks anticausatives and some verbal reflexives (Gündoğdu 2017). Nevertheless, the present paper argues that Turkish has a canonical passive that is morphosyntactically distinct from nonactive/middle Voice. U-syncretism is found only with verb stems that lack transitive marking. With stems that take an overt marker of transitivity—a causative suffix or an active light verb—the passive suffix is rigidly passive in interpretation, licensing a by phrase but not a by-itself or causer phrase in the case of alternating change-of-state verbs, and rejecting a reflexive reading even with a naturally reflexive verb. I conclude that the Turkish passive is derived with a transitive verb stem, while the anticausative and reflexive are derived with intransitive stems. U-syncretism arises only where transitive marking is null, and therefore, I argue, reflects a morphosyntactic ambiguity rather than different interpretations of the nonactive/middle Voice construction. This paper thus shows that a canonical passive can exhibit surface u-syncretism.
期刊介绍:
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory provides a forum for the discussion of theoretical research that pays close attention to natural language data, offering a channel of communication between researchers of a variety of points of view. The journal actively seeks to bridge the gap between descriptive work and work of a highly theoretical, less empirically oriented nature. In attempting to strike this balance, the journal presents work that makes complex language data accessible to those unfamiliar with the language area being studied and work that makes complex theoretical positions more accessible to those working outside the theoretical framework under review. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory features: generative studies on the syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology, and other aspects of natural language; surveys of recent theoretical developments that facilitate accessibility for a graduate student readership; reactions/replies to recent papers book reviews of important linguistics titles; special topic issues. Springer fully understands that access to your work is important to you and to the sponsors of your research. We are listed as a green publisher in the SHERPA/RoMEO database, as we allow self-archiving, but most importantly we are fully transparent about your rights. Read more about author''s rights on: http://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/authors-rights