33.237, Review: Syntax; Typology: Bahrt (2021)
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LINGUIST List: Vol-33-237. Fri Jan 21 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.
Subject: 33.237, Review: Syntax; Typology: Bahrt (2021)
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Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2022 20:12:05
From: Valeria Generalova [generalova.valeria at gmail.com]
Subject: Voice syncretism
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36755537
Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/32/32-2762.html
AUTHOR: Nicklas N. Bahrt
TITLE: Voice Syncretism
SERIES TITLE: Research on Comparative Grammar
PUBLISHER: Language Science Press
YEAR: 2021
REVIEWER: Valeria Generalova
SUMMARY
The book under review is a monograph following the doctoral dissertation
defended at the University of Helsinki. It opens the new series ''Research on
Comparative Grammar'' at Language Science Press. Contributing to the ample
discussion of grammatical voice, it discusses situations when several voices
in a language share verbal marking. The study is based on a typological sample
of 222 languages and comprises eight chapters, three appendices, and three
indices.
Chapter 1 introduces key concepts that are used throughout the study. Although
precise definitions are given later, this brief overview gives an idea about
the book's contents and serves for better orientation. The second half of
Chapter 1 presents the language sample. The selection of languages is well
explained and justified statistically (chi-squared goodness of fit, p.8).
Chapter 2 shapes the novel theoretical framework introduced by the author.
Starting with the review of the main axes in studying voice, it features
definitions of voice relations based on a comparison of two diatheses (clausal
constructions). In each pair, one clausal construction also bears the name of
the described relation. For example, (2) on p.24 defines absolute passive
voice relation by listing how passive voice is different from another
diathesis (traditionally called active voice). In this definition, the author
lists four criteria that must hold for a relation between two clausal
constructions to qualify as an absolute passive. These criteria are not
uniform and mention the number of syntactic and semantic participants,
semantic roles of some participants, verbal marking. The same approach is used
in other definitions, which results in postulating seven voices: passive
(absolute and non-absolute), antipassive (absolute and non-absolute, consider
typo in (8) on p. 27), reflexive, reciprocal, causative, anticausative and
applicative. No definition is given to active voice (consider the discussion
on pp.18-19). The chapter concludes with a table on p.46 summarizing all the
criteria. One might notice that these criteria only help distinguish between
voices, while everything related to the definition of voice as a verbal
category is omitted. This table also makes the heterogeneity of the criteria
visible.
Chapter 3 is called to define voice syncretism. It starts with another round
of literature review, paying due attention to works of the Leningrad-St.
Petersburg Typology Group and giving an in-depth account of Geniušienė (1987)
and Haspelmath (1990). The second subsection demonstrates how voice syncretism
can be marked on the verb. In contrast to prior studies, the author defines
three types of marking resemblance: full (unconditioned and conditioned),
partial and reverse. The necessary data is presented in tables to make
similarities in marking well visible. Some quantitative estimations are given:
the author tells how frequently each type of marking occurs in the sample.
Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 are the main ones to present the data and its
qualitative assessment. Chapter 4 describes patterns of ''simples'' voice
syncretism, i. e., situations where two voices share the same marking. The
chapter consists of brief (1-2 pages) presentations of the 21 patterns,
divided into four ''essentially arbitrary'' (p.74) groupings. Each sketch
presents one or several languages having the pattern in question, estimates
its frequency and discusses some interesting details with reference to key
sources. Chapter 5 focuses on ''complex'' voice syncretism presenting 12
patterns of three voices sharing the same voice marking, four patterns of four
voices and one exceptional case in Permic and Slavic languages, where five
voices form a single syncretic pattern. As elsewhere in the book, tables are
well-designed to make the necessary comparisons prominent.
Chapter 6 couches a distributional overview of voice syncretism alongside
individual voices (''dedicated voice marking'', p.143). The introduction to
this chapter recapitulates sampling decisions and issues. The remainder of the
chapter offers 16 tables and two figures presenting the data from different
perspectives. One of the interesting table formats shows the probability of a
voice being in a language if another voice is attested (Tab.6.5 on p.146) and
the probability of a voice sharing marking with another voice (Tab.6.15 on
p.156). All tables are accompanied with comments, redirecting the reader to
Chapters 4, 5 or 7. However, the data in the tables is easy to follow, opening
the opportunity for the reader to make their observations.
Chapter 7 deals with the question, whether voice syncretism can be due to the
development of one voice towards the functions of another voice over time. The
author minutely goes through 23 directional paths to find evidence of
diachronic development. The resulting Fig.7.4 on p.230 shows that some paths
are, in fact, bidirectional (e. g., causative can develop from applicative and
applicative can develop from causative). Nevertheless, the author acknowledges
that further research is needed to find better evidence for some phenomena.
Chapter 8 concisely summarizes the main findings and some ideas for future
studies.
In addition to the main text, the book comprises three appendices. Appendix A
lists all languages included in the sample (listed alphabetically by genus,
which is somewhat user-unfriendly) and primary data sources. Some older
sources are accompanied with comments that a newer version exists but could
not be obtained (these versions are not included in the reference list).
Appendix B lists all the languages alphabetically and indicates which voices
are present in each of them. Appendix C is dedicated to voice syncretism. Only
languages having at least one pattern of voice syncretism are included. Each
pattern is assigned a type of marking resemblance. Morphemes participating in
each pattern are provided as well.
EVALUATION
The book under review offers a novel view of grammatical voice, which makes
this volume interesting for everyone interested in voice, diathesis, verbal
alternations and marking of verbal categories. The definitions suggested in
Chapter 2 can be implemented in any theoretical framework. The language data
is presented from the perspective of voice syncretism, making the book under
review a valuable source not only for typologists but also for specialists in
individual languages.
The main drawback of the book is a number of very unfortunate typos that
sometimes might prevent the reader from understanding the contents. The
definitions in Chapter 2 might have been copied and pasted. Namely, on p.27,
the definition of non-absolute antipassive is entitled ''definition of
absolute antipassive''. Furthermore, definitions of some voices have wrong
indices, although the following examples and discussion prove the opposite. In
(16) on p.33, reflexive voice relation is defined. The definition says that
''reflexive voice denotes D2 in the voice relation'', but all the listed
criteria, as well as examples on p.34, clearly relate that reflexive voice
denotes D1, not the D2. The same holds for the definition of reciprocal (see
(17) on p.33) and anticausative (see (26) on p.37). The dissertation on which
the book under review is based does not contain these typos and offers
perfectly correct definitions (see Bahrt (2020), p.53, 57).
I also have a minor concern about the user-friendliness of Appendix A, where
languages are not listed alphabetically but according to genus. Since it is
the only appendix listing primary sources for each language, one might expect
readers to consult it fairly often. However, it is not always easy to find the
needed idiom quickly. As Appendices B and C are organized according to
language names, it is even less handy to deal with Appendix A.
Despite these editorial inconveniences, I still would recommend this book to
everyone interested in a novel twist in voice studies.
REFERENCES
Bahrt, Niklas N. (2020) Towards a typology of voice syncretism. Doctoral
dissertation. Helsinki.
Geniušienė, Emma. (1987) The typology of reflexives. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter.
Haspelmath, Martin. (1990) The grammaticalization of passive morphology.
Studies in Language 14(1). 25-72.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Valeria Generalova is a doctoral student at Heinrich Heine University of
Dusseldorf. Her research interests include verbal alternations, valency,
argument structure, language typology.
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