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<p>It seems to me that we want to use the term "passive" for a kind
of construction-strategy, not for a kind of construction-function
(using terms inspired by Croft 2022). The function can be roughly
described as patient foregrounding and/or agent backgrounding, and
quite a few languages use a peculiar construction with verbal
marking and agent downgrading. But not all languages<br>
</p>
<p>So we probably don't want to talk about "active and passive
readings", or only very informally.<br>
</p>
<p>If the Aramaic form <span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times
New Roman",serif"><i>ifṯeḥ</i> can be used also for 'it has
been opened', it means the language has a flexivalency
alternation. (Sometimes it's called "lability", but I prefer to
use the term "labile" in a narrow way, for the
'break(tr.)/break(intr.)' type.)</span></p>
<p>A range of flexivalency alternations are described in §10 of my
paper on valency and voice constructions
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/005941">https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/005941</a>). In Mande languages such as
Bambara, obliagent constructions (sometimes called "uncoded
passices") are very common, and these also occur in quite a few
Atlantic creoles, as noted by Silvia Kouwenberg.</p>
<p>Best,</p>
<p>Martin<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 27.07.23 11:28, Sergey Loesov wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAPsdrafNOb78yjTOk5LnbZjUjkG2wCo_04Ea7mv7d92unVGmVw@mail.gmail.com">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in
8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif">Dear colleagues,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in
8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif">Do you know of languages that
have past-tense forms of transitive verbs with both active
and passive readings?
In particular, languages in which the same token can appear
as both active and
passive, depending on the context? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in
8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif">This seems to be the case in the
unwritten language Modern Western Aramaic, spoken in the
Syrian Anti-Lebanon/Kalamoun.
Thus, <i>ifṯeḥ</i> (a Perfect-Resultative verb form) may
mean ‘he (has) opened’
and ‘he has been opened/he is opened.’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in
8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in
8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif">Thank you very much,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in
8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in
8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New
Roman",serif">Sergey</span></p>
</div>
<br>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Martin Haspelmath
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.eva.mpg.de/linguistic-and-cultural-evolution/staff/martin-haspelmath/">https://www.eva.mpg.de/linguistic-and-cultural-evolution/staff/martin-haspelmath/</a></pre>
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